This is kind of a tricky post for me. And honestly, I wasn't even sure I wanted to post it. I was not planning on getting this personal with my blog, and this will probably be one of the only times I do. But, I feel like our lives, the up and the downs, should be lived to love God and to help others who are maybe a step behind us on the path we just got done or are currently walking.
So, this post is on the links between depression and art. Studies upon studies have proven what we already know, artists are moody people. Surprise. Arnold Ludwig, an MD as well as a professor and researcher at the University of Kentucky Medical Center did a ten year long study on 1004 men and women. In the end he found that between 59 and 77 percent of artistic individuals suffered from "mood disorders" compared to the 18 to 29 percent in less artistic professionals.
But that begs the questions, why? Well, being an artistic person, here are my thoughts. Art is an outward expression of what is going on inside of you. The best artists are the ones who know how to display the good and the bad of that. But, because art takes time; you have to think of an idea, gather what you need, execute it, then refine it, you have to dwell on whatever that feeling is a longer time than a less artistic person would have to. Not only that, but you study other artists who are expressing those same intense emotions. Art is, at the same time, completely emotional and completely factual.
As anybody who is committed to their profession would tell you, you begin to adopt the same motives and attitudes that are required of your profession to the rest of your life. So, as an artist, you begin to look at the world through a very emotional set of glasses. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful set of glasses. You see beauty in the shadows coming through the screen door and in the way one drape falls slightly different than the other. But I believe you also see the dark more accutly. You see how lonely the street light looks driving up to your house and how sad the doll crumbled up in the corner looks.
I remember when I read these studies for the first time, it was when I was dealing with a wave of depression and something about them was comforting to me. It made me feel like I was alright, and that I was not alone. It even sort of confirmed some of the things that were happening in my life for me. I myself am part of the 59-77 percent of artists. And if you are too, know that you are okay. Know that you are the way you are for a reason and that He does nothing by chance.
Honestly, I'm thankful. My God carries me on nights when all you can see is the street lights and opens my eyes to the beauty in the shadows the next morning.
