Are Artists More Anxiety Prone?

This year, I started going to therapy to cope with the grief of losing our baby boy in May. I experienced a lot of trauma surrounding that event. On my path towards healing, I’ve also realized I’ve suffered from generalized anxiety most of my life. WebMD says Generalized anxiety disorder (or GAD) is marked by excessive, exaggerated anxiety and worry about everyday life events for no obvious reason.

The funny thing is, you probably wouldn’t know I suffer from anxiety if you met me in person. I’ve been told I seem like a relaxed, positive, happy-go-lucky kind of person. My turmoil is all on the inside.

Before I go on, I want to say that I’m not a mental health professional, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I’m simply sharing my experience of generalized anxiety as a creative, and what I’ve learned from reading materials produced by professionals.

One book my therapist recommended is The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne. As I was reading this book, I learned there are certain personality traits anxious people tend to have. And a lot of the traits are positive. Anxious people tend to be very intelligent. They are usually creative, intuitive, emotional, empathetic and amiable. That sounds like an artist in a nutshell, right?

This was my lightbulb moment. Is it possible our greatest talents have a dark side? It can’t be a coincidence that many great artists throughout history have been plagued with mental health issues. Here are just a few artists who suffered from anxiety:

Edgar Degas
Mark Rothko
Georgia O'Keeffe
Emily Dickinson
Vincent van Gogh
Brian Wilson
T.S. Eliot

And I could name sooooo many more. It might be easier to make a list of artists who didn’t suffer from anxiety. T.S Eliot said “Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.”

I had to learn more, so I started researching the correlation between anxiety and creativity. According to this article, our greatest strength and weakness is our imagination. Our imagination helps us envision future artworks with great clarity, but we also visualize traumatic events in full color. This is where our worries can spiral out of control. The things we visualize in our minds seem very real. Solara Mental Health states that “very active minds are able to conjure up so many things to be worry about. Less complex minds may worry less because there isn’t as much thinking. But with the creatives, there’s always a lot of thinking.”

A negative personality trait that plagues anxious people is perfectionism. And many artists possess this trait. While perfectionism drives us to be better, it can cloud the way we experience life. Often we are never good enough, our lives aren’t good enough, and neither is our artwork. The root of art is idealism. We paint things exactly as we wish they were, instead of how they are. At least I do. Often idealism resides in the future, because it isn’t possible in the present. In the present, there are always going to be challenges. The neuroscientist and author Joseph LeDoux said “anxiety is the price we pay for an ability to imagine the future.”

Another negative trait of anxious people is that they don’t handle criticism well. I know many artists who possess this trait. Fear of criticism is what keeps us from making our best work, and from sharing our work with the world. I was plagued by fear of criticism for years. So much so, that I just stopped making art all together in my early twenties.

So it does seem like artists are more anxiety prone. Now, what do we do with this information? First, knowledge is power. If we can put words to what ails us, we can seek treatment. For me, realizing my anxiety was a package deal with my creativity, made it seem a lot less scary. I feel less broken. I’ve done a lot of thinking on how to overcome my anxiety and I’ve realized that our weaknesses can become superpowers. They may be the very thing that can heal us. Now I’m going to talk about what I’m working on that’s helped me heal my anxiety.

Visualization

My wild imagination can have a dark side, but I’ve realized it doesn’t have to. While I can visualize traumatic events with great clarity, I can also conjure peaceful images with the same clarity. My imagination has become my superpower as I’ve coped with my anxiety. When I start to visualize something dark, I call to mind a positive image. The positive imagery feels so real, it often turns my mood around instantly. I can smell, taste and feel the image with all my senses. Meditation has become a superpower of mine too, because of how I’m able to visualize when I meditate. I love picturing myself on the beach, or sitting under a warm waterfall. To me, water is calming, and I can conjure up these images whenever I need to.

Positive Self Talk

I’ve learned that we should be talking to ourselves the way we would talk to a good friend. Since I’m particularly hard on myself, as most artists are, this mental shift has been instrumental in my recovery. If I catch myself saying something like, “your art should be better by now,” I think, “would I say that to a good artist friend?” The answer is no, I absolutely wouldn’t. That would be extremely cruel and unfair. And that’s often what our self talk is. Instead, I refute the negative thought with something positive like, “I’ve been working really hard at my art for years, and I’ve come so far as a result. My dedication deserves a lot of praise.”

Cultivating Pleasure

I realized I take myself too seriously. I’ve spent much of my life pushing and striving for everything to be perfect. Not just for my art to be perfect, but for my life in general to be perfect. I’ve held on to this idealized image in my head of how everything should be. I’ve put this image on a pedestal, and all that’s come of it is burnout and fatigue. I know I haven’t handled adversity well, because I haven’t had the energy for it. My go-to coping mechanisms have been distraction and denial, because I simply don’t have any resources left in my tank to deal.

In The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook, it states that perfectionism can be stifling to creativity. That explains why us artists can experience such lows around our work. Perfectionist tendencies can lead to comparision and obsessing over the finished product.

I’ve realized lately that nothing will ever be perfect, so it’s about time I start having some fun. Cultivating pleasure means learning to enjoy the moment, and detaching ourselves from outcomes. What can we do to enjoy the process of making art more, without thinking about what our finished work will look like? I see a world where we take more risks like a child would, which ultimately leads to better work anyways. Maybe not right away, but eventually our work gets better when we loosen up.

What are some ways we can enjoy the process of creating more? I’ve talked a lot on my blog about making work that no one sees. This is a great way to recover from perfectionism and to find joy in the process again. A perfect first step for blocked artists. Another way to find pleasure in your work again is to formulate rituals around making art, whether it be a nice workspace, great music, or tasty drinks while you work. Often making art with a friend or family member can help you enjoy the process too.

And it’s important to have fun outside the realm of art. Since I’m a pretty productive artist, this is what I’m working on right now. When’s the last time you did something for pure, utter joy? I hope your answer is sometime in the last 24 hours. If not, go out and have some fun like you used to when you were a kid. Us artists have a tendency to feel like there is never enough time. There is always enough time for fun. Remember how slowly time used to pass when we were young? That’s because it was all fun. Time actually passes more quickly when we don’t stop and smell the roses.

Put Criticism into Perspective

The only people who have a right to criticize our work are the ones who are taking creative risks themselves. As far as I’m concerned, anyone who is too afraid to put creative work into the world doesn’t get a seat at the table. If you only listen to the criticisms of fellow artists, sharing your work can feel less scary.

Usually people who work in a creative profession know how to deliver criticism in a way that is constructive and helpful. Not in a way that is hurtful. So try your best to only accept criticism from creatives you respect. What I’ve realized about criticism is that we are our own worst critics. The worst criticisms we experience are the things we say to ourselves. Or the stories we invent in our heads about everyone hating our work because not enough people liked our most recent social media post.

Getting in Touch with Our Bodies

Another trait of anxious people is that they tend to ignore signs of stress. I’d say this is an artist tendency too. I’m definitely guilty of this. Many artists are out of touch with their physical bodies, often forgetting to move and eat when they’re hungry. As a profession, sometimes we forget to take care of ourselves. This probably explains why drinking and drug use has been so prominent in the art world.

The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook emphasizes the effect diet and exercise has on our mental health. Caffeine consumption is often the culprit when it comes to anxiety. I know this personally, because I used to get panic attacks in my twenties, until I suspected I was drinking too much coffee. I started drinking decaf coffee and tea, and they went away. Now green tea (or a little black tea if I’m really tired) are my go-to caffeinated beverages. Eating a diet low in meat and sugar and high in vegetarian protein is proven to decrease anxiety as well.

As far as exercise goes, time outside in the fresh air is often just what the doctor ordered. Walking barefoot outside is thought to have a profound impact on our mental health. I opt for yoga and walking daily as exercises, since I’m suffering from adrenal fatigue. However, high impact exercises can be incredibly stress relieving if you have healthy adrenals.

Immersing Ourselves in the Positive

Because anxious people tend to be more sensitive and empathetic, our surroundings affect us in a big way. The more aware we are of this, the more we can immerse ourselves in positivity. Negative or scary TV shows can affect us in a big way. Toxic relationships can easily bring us down. A rainy day, or even the winter months in a cold climate, can affect our mood. The way we turn this into a superpower is realizing how quickly positive stimuli can affect us. Whether it’s watching happier TV shows, ending bad friendships, or taking beach vacations, we can turn our anxiety around in an instant. I’ve found that little adjustments go a long way. I renovated my studio space this year, and I’m shocked at the affect it’s had on my mood and productivity.

The Buddy System

Us artists often feel alone with our anxiety. I’m not sure if that’s because making art is literally a solitairy pursuit, or because we’re visual and have trouble expressing our feelings in words. Whatever the reason, psychologists say it can help to hang out with other creatives. That way, we’re with people who understand us. Sometimes our spouses, friends, and family members who aren’t in creative fields just see the world differently. It can be isolating to feel misunderstood by those we love.

This theory would explain why so many artists throughout history have succeeded in groups. If buddying up with other artists curbs our anxiety, we would therefore be more productive working in groups.

While creativity and anxiety seem to be correlated, there’s also a cause and effect relationship outlined in the research I’ve found. Ironically, the best cure for anxiety is said to be creativity. Therefore, I can draw the conclusion that blocked artists tend to be the most anxious. While productive artists, who have a healthy relationship with their work, tend to be less anxious. For what it means to have a healthy relationship with your work, you can check out my article on Thriving Artists.

What’s interesting to me about the cause and effect relationship is that the very thing that causes our anxiety can also heal it. That’s what I mean about turning our negative, anxiety-prone traits into superpowers. I truly believe this is our path to recovery.

Just know that if you’re a creative suffering from anxiety, you’re not alone. And it is possible to start healing today, even if you’ve been unsuccessful thus far. I never thought I’d see such a drastic change in myself at this stage in my life. And it’s never too late to ask for help. Finding a therapist to work with you on healing your anxiety can be incredible helpful.