Self-disorders, imagination, and creativity in professional visual artists: an exploratory phenomenological study

Epidemiological studies have reported associations between creativity and genetic vulnerability for schizophrenia and other severe mental disorders. Alterations of selfhood have been proposed as a possible link between these phenomena. In this explorative study, we examined disturbances of basic selfhood and imagination, as well as general psychopathology, in a non-clinical sample of professional visual artists. Methods Ten visual artists, exhibiting at prestigious galleries, were recruited through professional networks. They underwent a comprehensive interview assessment of psychopathology, including the Present State Examination (PSE), the Examination of Anomalous Self-experience (EASE), the Examination of Anomalous fantasy and Imagination (EAFI), and a qualitative interview exploring the creative working process. Results Four participants described a moderate to high level of self-disorders and/or anomalies of imagination and described an involvement of these experiences in their creative working process. The participants met ICD-10 research criteria for lifetime diagnoses of mood, anxiety and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Discussion The findings are exploratory and based on a small sample. Drawing on phenomenological considerations, we tentatively suggest that, for some individuals, alterations of the pre-reflective structure of subjectivity may be related to creativity through subtle alienation from fundamental common-sense categories, an inclination towards preoccupation with the imaginary, and a spatialized mode of experiencing the inner life.