Stable creativity

(a question for those who are creative)

Does your creativity come and go?
I am obliged to submit creative work for the university every week. The difference between what I'm submitting from week to week seems enourmous to me, almost like done by two different people, on ocassions I surprise even myself with the quality of creative thinking, on other times I completely fail to provide even minimum of what was required so the submitted work could be described as boring and plain.
Does this happen to any of you, this unstability when it comes to being creative? Is there a way to control this? My professors don't really have much understanding for these phases where I'm unable to deliver (or even get up in the morning and go to school for that matter..) and I'm not really sure how to handle it as I feel like it's not something I can control.

Tell your profs about your illness if you feel comfortable. Certainly we are more creative when hypomanic than when mildly depressed. I wouldn't try to induce hypomania too much though. You might end up with full blown mania. Depression usually seems to just go away after a while. Just try your best not to get depressed (exercise, diet, sleep) and make sure you're at a good dosage for meds.

There is a way to induce hypomania (other than with drugs)? I do catch myself sometimes trying to force it by sucking the last drops of joy out of small things that seem to carry potential for happiness. But it doesn't really work, not for long, at least, it's beyond my control.

Caffeine, alcohol, and less sleep seem to trigger mania for me. Going out with friends a lot to the bars or parties. I don't do that anymore though.

Call me crazy (lol) but I've found I produce my best (read: completed) creative work when I'm more or less stable. I have less wild ideas, and usually that's a good thing for me. When I'm hypo every medium is an outlet, every book is worth reading, thesis worth exploring etc. and when I'm depressed I feel exhausted by my ideas or projects as soon as I begin to consider them.

Being off seroquel has helped a lot. Med induced lethargy makes creative work, let alone work in general, difficult for me. I can't see whether you have your cocktail listed as a signature. Do you think your meds could be affecting your ability to produce?

University is a different story. I second z7z's advice to reach out to profs, but they are busy and have their own deadlines to fulfil so I wouldn't take it personally if they aren't flexible. But do seek out someone at your uni who can serve as a liaison between you, your docs and your professors. This may help your professors get permission to give you extensions without it adversely affecting them, and it never hurts to have someone fully on your side in competitive environments.

Found this and I can relate to it a lot:

Dr E. A. Bennet:


Do you consider that the superior function in the case of a person suffering from manic-depression remains conscious during the period of depression?


Professor Jung:


I would not say that. If you consider the case of manic-depressive insanity you occasionally find that in the manic phase one function prevails and in the depressive phase another function prevails. For instance, people who are lively, sanguine, nice and kind in the manic phase, and do not think very much, suddenly become very thoughtful when the depression comes on, and then they have obsessive thoughts, and vice versa. I know several cases of intellectuals who have a manic-depressive disposition. In the manic phase they think freely, they are productive and very clear and very abstract. Then the depressive phase comes on, and they have obsessive feelings; they are obsessed by terrible moods, just moods, not thoughts. Those are, of course, psychological details.]

This is not directly related, but nevertheless interesting:

You see these things most clearly in cases of men of forty and a little bit more who have led a particular type of life, an intellectual life or a life of values, and suddenly that thing goes under and up comes just the contrary. There are very interesting cases like that. We have the famous literary illustrations, Nietzsche for instance. He is a most impressive example of a change of psychology into its opposite at middle age. In younger years he was the aphorist in the French style; in the later years, at 38, in That Spake Zarathustra, he burst out in a Dionysian mood which was absolutely the contrary of everything he had written before.

shanzeek wrote:(a question for those who are creative)

Does your creativity come and go?
I am obliged to submit creative work for the university every week. The difference between what I'm submitting from week to week seems enourmous to me, almost like done by two different people, on ocassions I surprise even myself with the quality of creative thinking, on other times I completely fail to provide even minimum of what was required so the submitted work could be described as boring and plain.
Does this happen to any of you, this unstability when it comes to being creative? Is there a way to control this? My professors don't really have much understanding for these phases where I'm unable to deliver (or even get up in the morning and go to school for that matter..) and I'm not really sure how to handle it as I feel like it's not something I can control.

It can be difficult for me to be creative on demand. In a production type of sense. To sit around and wait for inspiration do not really work in such contexts. A friend of mine is clothing designer. She also has a business mind. In addition a concept which gives her direction I suppose.

It depends much in my mood as well. When hypo I can be very creative and productive . In the narrow sense of creativity - in painting , doing some kind of art project. In the wider sense even writing boring academic texts. There are creative elements in thought processes. Associations , metaphoric thinking . Those contribute to create something new at least for oneself - new insights, new understandings etc. When I am hypo I can do the all day all night no sleep no eat in front of canvas until I just move on to something lose that pops up in my mind.

Sometime one just need a door of entry to trigger inspiration and to open ones mind to create.

Do you enjoy all projects that you are supposed to do ?