During a radio interview of Nick Cave, Terri Gross, the host of the show, read him an entry coming from his Wikipedia page saying that his dark brooding songs were regarded as depressing by some listeners. And the depressing part was the subject of the rest of the conversation, this is what Cave answered:
‘ …it worries me. That's always worried me and it's something that you're going to get if you make certain types of music. But the thought that my music depresses people, you know, is horrifying. I would hate my music to depressed people, unless there were certain types of people…[…] people who find my music depressing […]
But, you know, I mean that's not, you know, the creative process, it's a positive thing. To me I don't write when I'm depressed. If I'm depressed, which is actually rare, I'm not doing anything, you know, and I'm not able to do anything. You know, so there might be some melancholic songs in there. But you can't write something unless you can't the spirit sort of takes you, you know, and that's a positive and optimistic thing in my view.’
I thought his answer was both great and interesting as we always have a tendency to associate dark and profound music with sadness and depression, and not necessarily see any creative process as a positive and optimistic thing.
Actually, the link between creativity and distress is an old idea, the tormented poet, the anguished painter or writer,… yes creativity involves suffering and torment, but severe depression or even bipolar disorder?
It is however true that there is a large number of artists, and especially poets, who have suffered from mood and bipolar disorders: Mendelsohn, Schumann, Van Gogh, Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Brian Wilson, Kurt Cobain, Jackson Pollock, Virginia Woolf, Ray Davies… there is a very long list.
But actually, how can you find the drive to do something and the perseverance to finish it when you are a depressed individual?
Jutta Joormann, PhD, a Stanford University researcher, explained:
‘Depression is associated with inactivity, difficulty concentrating and lying in bed, which seems contrary to creativity. But depressed people are more likely to ruminate, making depression act as an intermediary variable.’
In a study, Joormann and her colleagues found no direct link between depression and creativity, but self-reflection (rumination) was shown to be associated with ‘an increased risk for depression and an interest in, and talent for, creative behavior’.
She concluded that people who suffers depression are more inclined to self-rumination, and thus to develop a creative behavior.
And there is also another aspect of the question related to mood disorder,s as Dr. Peter Whybrow, a UCLA neuroscientist said this about Schumann, who was likely bipolar II (a mood disorder in which lows can be very low but the highs not terribly high).
‘If you look at his life, his most productive years were when he was 30 years old and had just gotten married, and then a few years later, when he had another period of hypomania. But he also had many depressive periods where he wrote almost nothing. His mood disorders both enhanced and retarded his creativity.’
I think it explains a lot, Schumann created when he was happy! When a bipolar individual hits one of this down episode creativity is gone, but the last point is also very important, it is as if the high which follows the low gives him a whole new perspective and the energy to create:
‘Mania provides energy and breaks up the way we actually see things. To be creative is to change the way you see the world; the creative person breaks up those habits.’
In a way bipolar disorder helps creativity, by changing the individual's perception of the world, by renovating his understanding of the world; so yes, Nick Cave is right, the creative process is always a positive thing