So, in my own experience, artists who are depressed are probably not depressed because they are artists or vice versa. Some people have chemical imbalances, some develop their emotions through a series of life occurances or traumas – but I know depressed lawyers, doctors, cops and dancers. It is possible that creative careers attract more people with mental health issues because they need a theraputic outlet for their feelings so they become an artist or musician to share their inner feelings with the world – getting them out feels less damning.

if you choose to seek help then maybe the book I mention in the article could be a place to start. Just to be clear – I haven’t read the book myself and can’t vouch for its worth. I simply used a review about the book to start a conversation. I’m also not an affiliated seller of the book – in other words I don’t get any payment for mentioning it.

The details again are: “The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person’s Path Through Depression”, by Eric Maisel

My best wishes – Andy

On the point of Hypoglycaemia, a year ago I was preparing myself for going up Mt Snowdon. For most people its probably not that difficult, but for someone who was never gifted in sports it was a huge challenge. I also was prone to fainting, dizziness, migraines under stress.

For almost two months before the trek I walked at least 3 miles everyday, a third of it uphill. I spent from 40 mins to an hour everyday on walking. The exercise cleared my mind, I felt fresh in so many ways, when I came back I was looking forward to the day. I also found I had more drive to make healthier meals for myself and as a result my mood was almost constantly peaking at great!

Such small changes in your daily routine can have such a huge impact on your life. After my holidays I went back to university, a combination of alot of work, stress, bullies made me lose track of my new diet. I stopped eating healthy foods, I stuck to take outs and sugary foods. 6 months of this and recently I have been experiencing the strangest symptoms.

When having a spell I no longer have the strength to even lift the telephone, a few weeks ago I sat on the carpet in my showerroom and didnt move for three hours. I was exhausted. Compeltely deplete. Worse still I had a few weeks of university left to go and plenty of assignments to deal with. To get myself through I lived on Proactiv dietary supplement tablets. They helped somewhat but didnt stop these strange episodes.

Depression was another issue. I became an angry person, well not quite angry as irritated and snappy. I kept doubting myself, I was in a horrible place with no way out. I hated being depressed again, it had returned after two years and boy did it come with a vengeance.

I am starting to feel a bit faint right now, I know why, I had a small portion of pasta earlier in the day and a perhaps 5/6 pieces of monster munch. Last time my blood pressure dropped way low as well.

I know what I have to do, my biggest investment to come will be in food and the time I spend doing exercises. I AM going to start exercising again. I AM going to start eating healthily.

I hope other creatives look out for themselves. I feel that as a creative we are receptive to outside influences in ways not many others are. I find myself feeling what someone else is feeling. Sometimes by talking to someone and looking at the books on their desk I want to suddenly tell them I’ve picked up why they are reading Kubrick or why an aging man is listening to Japanese deaf metal. But its also a bad thing, feeling emotions in such a strong way. I had to stop watching the news because it was breaking me.

I hope we all find our way out of the tunnel, sometimes it does seem such a long way away.

Read this blog’s posts and comments and you will see many instances where an underlying acceptance of the broadness and plurality of artistic creativity is simply assumed.

What you won’t find is an attempt to define ‘art’, or to philosophise around it. As far as I’m concerned, and for the purposes of this blog, if the artist perceives their creative output to be art then that’s good enough for me.

Finally – three things:

First: this blog is called The Creative Instict, not The Creative Intellect (not that I’m anti-intellectual).

Second: suggesting that the lack of a definition could possibly invalidate the amazingly thoughtful and insightful comments that precede your own is both ridiculous and disrespectful.

Thirdly: don’t be so bloody pompous.