Sometimes I think artists and people in creative professions were more likely to experience bipolar disorder and have a mental illness than the general population, because the the average person has art to run to yet Artists don’t have an escape besides Art. That means when Artists are not in a position to create art, they will also not be in a position to create an escape for themselves.
The relationship of art and mental health comes in form of arts valuable role in mental health is ranges from alleviating anxiety, depression and stress to boosting confidence and making people feel more engaged and resilient. Things like mental illness art exhibition have been done to create healing spaces. In spite of the role of artists in reducing mental health issues and creating an escape for others, more and more people are joining list of artists with mental illness.
Art and mental health statistics are still very inaccurate or inaccessible. Art students have found that famous artists did a lot of art depicting mental illness, which is an indication that this probably started early. Although artists keep their private woes to themselves, an issue for another day, over a third of performing artists, 25% of industry support workers and most roadies and crew reported mental health problems.
That is why so many musicians are depressed. Drugs and alcohol have featured in the lifestyles of so many performers for so long that sometimes it’s difficult to tell if depression is the symptom or the cause. Some artists, as Marvin Gaye did, use them to steady their nerves before performances; others use them to come down from the high of the performance.
It is almost a norm nowadays that everyone who becomes an artist faces mental health issues. After listening to a couple of interviews on some artists battling depression and other forms of mental illness, I have concluded that many individuals enter this new world of fame and success without being trained or taught how to cope with such.
A person becomes famous and is now exposed to the world and his/her business becomes everyone’s business. People get the freedom to critique a famous person both positively and negatively.
If an individual under such conditions loses his identity, he will definitely succumb to mental distress.
I believe mental problems is unique to individual. Most of the artists expose themselves to lots of pressure from the public so they really need to check up with themselves to get a piece of mind otherwise they end up losing themselves when they try to live fake life that come with huge prices to keep up with and some times drain every single coin they would have invested. Waking up to such scenarios where you have lost everything in the name of pleasing the public eye might cause some devastation and the repercussion is mental breakdown.
Artists depend on their celebrity statuses to stay afloat. That means they do a lot to impress. Any slight decline in their relevance causes them to develop mental issues which begin with low self esteem that gradually becomes something else.