Artists and Musicians Are a Little Crazy

Posting Date: 09/10/2003

Dr. Dean's Comment: Creative people are certainly different. This and other articles find a higher than "normal" amount of mental disorders among creative types, from musicians to painters. As a society we place a high premium on creativity even though one has to view the world a little differently to commit to life as an artist. In this report jazz musicians were rated higher on sensation seeking which in turn in some individuals can be associated with drug abuse. My concern is that we currently treat creative youngsters with psychiatric medications instead of trying to teach them in different ways. For instance ADD kids are often more creative and I don't know if our over-use of Ritalin is suppressing future generations of artists.

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Forty lives in the bebop business: mental health in a group of eminent jazz musicians

GEOFFREY I. WILLS, PhD

Background Above-average levels of psychopathology have been demonstrated convincingly in groups of outstanding individuals working in the arts. Currently, jazz musicians have not been studied in this regard.

Aims To investigate any evidence of psychopathology in a group of eminent jazz musicians.

Method Biographical material relating to 40 eminent American modern jazz musicians was reviewed and an attempt was made to formulate diagnoses using DSM?IV.

Results Evidence was provided of levels of psychopathology in the sample of jazz musicians similar to those found in other previously investigated creative groups, with the exception of substance related problems. An interesting connection between creativity and sensation-seeking was highlighted.

Conclusions The link between psychopathology and creativity in the arts was given further weight. Future studies of jazz musicians using larger samples and making comparison with groups from different eras of music would give greater clarification to this area.

The British Journal of Psychiatry (2003) 183: 255-259