This book describes The Artistic Theory of Psychology, in which a dominant focus is on the successful creative artist and mental health. However, the book also describes the relationship of the creative artist to mental disturbance in various contexts, including an innovative academic treatment, personal experiential essays written by the author, excerpts related to the author's semi-autobiographical novel, and illustrative blog excerpts from the author's struggling actor son. The main theme of the book is that through humanistic supportive environments for creative artists, the phenomenon of the successful creative artist in the context of success in both one's creative artistic endeavors as well as a satisfactory adjustment to day-to-day life, can be nourished and enhanced.

No one is more conscious of the faults of this work than the author. Therefore some self -criticism should be woven into this foreward. There are two possible methodologically pure solutions to this book's theme: a de scriptive catalog of the pictures couched in the language of natural science and accom panied by a clinical and psychopathological description of the patients, or a completely metaphysically based investigation of the process of pictorial composition. According to the latter, these unusual works, explained psychologically, and the exceptional circum stances on which they are based would be integrated as a playful variation of human expression into a total picture of the ego under the concept of an inborn creative urge, behind which we would then only have to discover a universal need for expression as an instinctive foundation. In brief, such an investigation would remain in the realm of phenomenologically observed existential forms, completely independent of psychiatry and aesthetics. The compromise between these two pure solutions must necessarily be piecework and must constantly defend itself against the dangers of fragmentation. We are in danger of being satisfied with pure description, the novelistic expansion of details and questions of principle; pitfalls would be very easy to avoid if we had the use of a clearly outlined method. But the problems of a new, or at least never seriously worked, field defy the methodology of every established subject.

Drawing on new paradigms and evidence-based discoveries in neuroscience, narrative psychology, and creativity theory, Creative Arts in Counseling and Mental Health by Philip Neilsen, Robert King, and Felicity Baker explores the beneficial role of expressive arts within a recovery perspective. A framework of practice principles for the visual arts, creative writing, music, drama, dance, and digital storytelling is addressed across a number of settings and populations, providing readers with an accessible overview of techniques taught in counseling programs in the U.S. and abroad.

Being an artist doesn't mean that you have to suffer!Bad days happen to everyone. But how do you keep working when there are more bad days than good days? When your mental health takes a toll on your creativity? When anxiety, depression, self-doubt or imposter syndrome prevent you from doing your best work?In a world where artists are perceived as "drama queens" and are expected to "get on with it", this book shows you that there is a way to take care of your mental health while continuing to create.There's no need to be a tortured artist anymore. You can be a happy artist instead.

This book re-examines the common view that a high level of individual creativity often correlates with a heightened risk of mental illness.

In this collection of 16 essays, poets discuss psychiatric treatment and their work. Poets on Prozac shatters the notion that madness fuels creativity by giving voice to contemporary poets who have battled myriad psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse. The sixteen essays collected here address many provocative questions: Does emotional distress inspire great work? Is artistry enhanced or diminished by mental illness? What effect does substance abuse have on esthetic vision? Do psychoactive medications impinge on ingenuity? Can treatment enhance inherent talents, or does relieving emotional pain shut off the creative process? Featuring examples of each contributor’s poetry before, during, and after treatment, this original and thoughtful collection finally puts to rest the idea that a tortured soul is one’s finest muse. Honorable Mention, 2008 PROSE Award for Best Book in Psychology. “A fascinating collection of 16 essays, as insightful as they are compulsively readable. Each is honest and sharply written, covering a range of issues (depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychosis, substance abuse or, in acutely deadpan Andrew Hudgins’s case, “tics, twitches, allergies, tooth-grinding, acid reflux, migraines . . . and shingles”) along with treatment methods, incorporating personal anecdotes and excerpts from poems and journals. . . . Anyone affected by mental illness or intrigued by the question of its role in the arts should find this volume absorbing.” —Publishers Weekly “Berlin has done a marvelous job of showing us how ordinary poets are; the selected poets have shown us that mental illness shares with other experiences a capacity to reveal our humanity.” —Metapsychology

Using the lives of artists as inspiration, "When Walls Become Doorways" explores the transformative power of illness and the ability of productivity and creativity to heal the soul.