Toward maintaining mental hygiene of an artist. Practical tips

The article presents knowledge that may help artists understand themselves better and cope with potential obstacles accompanying creative processes. According to Kazimierz Dąbrowski [1964], there are five overexcitabilities that predispose someone for outstanding achievements in artistic and scientific disciplines. I am going to present practical tips on how to manage them skillfully, based on original proposals of Zofia Paśniewska-Kuć [2010], and to discuss obstacles that may appear during a creative process, characterized by Mirosław Dymon [2008]. In order to overcome them, an artist is required to build one’s inner autonomy and to develop the skill of a smart emotion management. The difference between freedom and compulsion when following a passion is highlighted by the authors of the dualist model of passion [Vallerand et al., 2003]. Readers can learn how to follow a harmonious passion and how to avoid the obsessive one, but first and foremost how to create original, interesting works and maintain mental health at the same time. Recommended tips probably are not universal and exhaustive, still they should come useful when recognizing individual problems artists may face.