{"id":1103,"date":"2025-09-09T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2025-09-03T13:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T19:06:07","slug":"the-dark-side-of-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2025\/09\/09\/the-dark-side-of-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dark Side of Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2><em>When the Gift Consumes<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SI-pics-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1104\" width=\"608\" height=\"608\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SI-pics-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SI-pics-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SI-pics-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SI-pics-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SI-pics-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SI-pics-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SI-pics.jpg 1936w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>There is something that they all have in common, and it&#8217;s not just what you think.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>September is Suicide Awareness Month. No better time to talk about such a horrific epidemic we find ourselves in. Before you bounce right out of here thinking this is going to be too heavy, I won\u2019t go into those types of details. I intend to address a specific facet of suicide \u2013 creative people. Yeah you, Substacker, writer, visual artist, musical artist, culinary artist, you are who I\u2019m talking about. I am who I\u2019m talking about. To ignore our inclination toward suffering is to invite it to govern, rule, and ultimately destroy us from the shadows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the relatively recent suicide death of Anne Burrell, I began digging a bit deeper into literature that reflected the connection between creativity and an increased proclivity to suicidal ideation (SI). And what I found was, at the very least, alarming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Culinary World<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the culinary world, it is a very fast-paced, high-stress, and at times, toxic environment in which to work. High demands are flying at them in a rapid-style fury. The consequences often include imposter syndrome \u2013 a feeling like they don\u2019t belong because they\u2019re not perfect. Such perfectionism undermines what joy the industry could bring. Additionally, intense environments, camaraderie masking dysfunction, long non-social hours, and high-pressure expectations in kitchens contribute to mental strain among highly creative chefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4><em>Notable Losses to Suicide in the Culinary World<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Homaro Cantu: Chef, inventor, restaurateur<\/li><li>Anne Burrell: American chef and TV host<\/li><li>Anthony Bourdain: American chef and author<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>Entertainment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there is the entertainment industry, particularly the movie business. Acting requires deep understanding of other people. Deep levels of emotional empathy, experiencing emotions as if they are happening to you even when they are not. They are tasked to portray an array of emotions, attitudes, linguistic styles, physical attributes, and more. Often, what one finds in this industry is they spend so much time being someone else that they do not know who they are. This lack of identity often produces confusion. The industry also produces isolation because of being harassed by media and fans. Confusion with isolation is a lethal mixture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4><em>Notable Losses to Suicide in the Entertainment Industry<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Robin Williams<\/li><li>Margot Kidder<\/li><li>Dana Plato<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>Literary Landscape<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Now to most of you reading this. Writers. You. Me. Writing involves a thought process that requires deep, intrinsic exploration. When you explore that deeply, you find things you forgot about. You find a mental box that was stashed away in hopes it would disappear, but it hasn\u2019t. Writing also involves feeling another person\u2019s depth of emotion. Writing displays this emotion, whether through a fictional expression, a self-help offering, or a liturgical grounding, with an aim to better the psyche through simplicity and ritual. The mind goes on an adventure, and the creative process fosters it in hopes it discovers some treasure trove of depth to unlock great mysteries that plague us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4><em>Notable Losses to Suicide Among Writers<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Ernest Hemingway<\/li><li>Yasunari Kawabata<\/li><li>Albert Camus<\/li><li>Pulitzer Prize winner Sylvia Plath (The \u201c<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sylvia_Plath_effect\" target=\"_blank\">Sylvia Plath Effect<\/a>\u201d is a concept that poets are more susceptible than other creative writers.<\/li><li>(<em>Please note that the first three are <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Nobel Literature Prize winners<\/span><\/em>)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s one thing they all have in common, neuroticism. In psychology, the Big Five personality scale is the most widely used and cited as the most reliable method for understanding personality. The Big Five is comprised of Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN). Standard knowledge within this discipline will tell you that on average, conscientiousness is an excellent predictor of success, agreeableness can have positive correlations with anxiety, and women score higher in all five personality traits, including neuroticism. But what does that have to do with creativity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Research on Creativity and Neuroticism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>(Peters et al., 2018)<\/strong> Neuroticism not only increases suicidal ideation (SI), it also significantly increases actual suicide. This same study found that men are particularly at greater risk of SI if they are unmarried, recently unemployed, or recently divorced.<\/li><li><strong>(Brezo et al., 2006)<\/strong> Neuroticism and openness to experience showed elevated risk of suicide. More specifically, extraversion had the strongest negative correlation to suicide and social introversion had the strongest positive correlation to suicide.<\/li><li><strong>(Bl\u00fcml et al., 2013)<\/strong> Neuroticism and openness to experience showed elevated risk for suicide, especially in females. In males, extraversion and conscientiousness were significant protective factors against suicide.<\/li><li><strong>(Preti et al., 2001)<\/strong> People involved in creative professions have suicide rates three times higher than those in other professions. As far as the three domains mentioned here, in a study reviewing suicides, 84% of the total suicides in creative professions were literary professionals.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To be clear, Correlation \u2260 Causation. There is not a guarantee of someone creative having high levels of neuroticism. Also, neuroticism doesn&#8217;t reliably predict creative achievement, but highly creative people often score high in neuroticism. Creative individuals, particularly in artistic fields like writing, acting, music, and culinary arts, frequently score high on neuroticism, especially when combined with high openness to experience, which <em>is<\/em> a reliable predictor of creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While neuroticism alone does not predict who will become a successful artist, writer, or chef, creative people, especially those who channel personal emotion into their work, tend to be more neurotic than average. This is the conundrum for people like us. Creativity often arises not despite emotional instability, but <em>because <\/em>of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Where Do We Go From Here?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So what do we do about it? If I know someone is going to push me, I can brace for it and find ways to lessen the impact, hoping I don\u2019t fall. Knowing that we are prone to this is a good step toward mitigating the effects. Think of fire. If I walked into your living room and set a fire on your coffee table, you would not be very happy about that. But if I walked about eight feet over and started one in the fireplace, you\u2019d be fine with it. Why? Because it\u2019s <em>contained<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we learn to control the force of our creativity, guiding it rather than becoming enslaved by it, we discover its true brilliance. Creativity, when unbounded, can blaze out of control like a wildfire, consuming without discernment; yet, when given structure, direction, and purpose, it becomes illumination rather than destruction. To harness creativity is not to diminish it, but to transform it into an ally. One that uplifts, builds, and heals. In this way, we honor the gift without surrendering ourselves to its tyranny. We partake in its radiance while refusing to be undone by its flames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This comes through calibration. Community. Conversation. The antithesis of isolation. Isolation leads to being on the lists above. Please, for all that is beautiful, <strong>do not let your creativity be the very thing that annihilates your potential to better the world around you with your gift<\/strong>. Guess what? I hoped you gained something from this, but I wrote that entire piece to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stay Classy GP!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grainger<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bl\u00fcml, V., Kapusta, N. D., Doering, S., Br\u00e4hler, E., Wagner, B., &amp; Kersting, A. (2013). Personality factors and suicide risk in a representative sample of the German general population.<em> PloS One, 8<\/em>(10), e76646. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0076646\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0076646<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brezo, J., Paris, J., &amp; Turecki, G. (2006). Personality traits as correlates of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide completions: a systematic review.<em> Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 113<\/em>(3), 180\u2013206. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1600-0447.2005.00702.x\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1600-0447.2005.00702.x<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peters, E. M., John, A., Bowen, R., Baetz, M., &amp; Balbuena, L. (2018). Neuroticism and suicide in a general population cohort: results from the UK Biobank Project.<em> BJPsych Open, 4<\/em>(2), 62\u201368. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1192\/bjo.2017.12\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1192\/bjo.2017.12<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Preti, A., De Biasi, F., &amp; Miotto, P. (2001). Musical creativity and suicide.<em> Psychological Reports, 89<\/em>(3), 719\u2013727. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2466\/pr0.2001.89.3.719\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2466\/pr0.2001.89.3.719<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The is a free publication. But if you really enjoyed this post and want to support our work, I would enjoy a good coffee after writing an article. Thanks!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-1 wp-block-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https:\/\/buymeacoffee.com\/grainger\">Buy Me a Coffee<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the Gift Consumes There is something that they all have in common, and it&#8217;s not just what you think. September is Suicide Awareness Month. No better time to talk about such a horrific epidemic we find ourselves in. Before you bounce right out of here thinking this is going to be too heavy, I &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2025\/09\/09\/the-dark-side-of-creativity\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Dark Side of Creativity&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[72,166,6,4,5],"tags":[197,195,196,194],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1105,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions\/1105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}