The Healing Art of Creativity: Combating Chronic Stress and Depression
J ohn Paul II’s beautiful words speak to a universal human experience we share in when we create. I do not mention the word “Healing” in my artist statement, but the notion that art and creativity can be used in the healing process is not a new idea. Certainly, there are many examples where a passion for creativity has helped people face and persevere against tremendous personal obstacles--especially in the arts and sciences. Stephen Hawking the renowned physicist or the deceased artist Gay Lauritzen, two highly creative people afflicted with Amyotrophic Lateral Scle­rosis (ALS), Lou Gehrig’s disease, both passionate about their work and life.
Since my own diagnosis with Progressive-Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis (MS), the freedom to express myself creatively through art has been physically beneficial and psychologically therapeu­tic. How so? First, creating artwork (or simply acting creatively) may not be a cure for Progressive-Relapsing MS, but it is an example of both a physical and mental process which helps me to maximize my own natural coping skills--while alleviating some of the negative emotional stress caused by the progression of my disease, stress which I believe increases symptoms and disability caused by my form of MS.
Whether a person suffers from a chronic illness like MS or not, we each do our best to overcome unhealthy stress and we each adapt to change and adversity. Our sense of self-worth is closely associated with our apparent ability to control change within our lives. When negative changes take place and are beyond our con­trol (such is the case with MS), our need for control escalates. In my own situation, my need for control has at times become over­whelming. Practicing forms of relaxation that help me to let go of that need (especially during times of heightened emotional stress) provides me with a greater sense of perceived control over my ill­ness, and may actually affect the progression of my form of MS. Approximately 6-10% of people with MS appear to have a form that is progressive from onset, but also characterized by acute attacks--in my case attacks have always correlated with periods of high emotional stress.
Regardless of what type of MS a person has, some com­mon emotional reactions are likely to appear. A sense of disbelief, anger, depression, guilt, fear, a driving desire to regain control over one’s life--all of these negative feelings contribute to an intense chronically active stress within the person. Of course, stress is an entirely understandable response to MS (and chronic illness in general). A diagnosis of MS implies a lifelong con­dition, progressive physical disability, emotional conflict and lasting adjustments. Stress is a normal reaction to MS and should be expected. Finding a positive stress-relieving escape from the disease can be extremely helpful.
Physicians claim that about one half of all people who have MS experience a serious depression during their illness. I have, of course, at times felt depressed about my illness. Interestingly though, I have never felt compelled to go on any form of antide-pressant medication. I believe that I am blessed with a naturally happy disposition, but that I have also maximized my natural coping skills through productive positive thoughts that have inevitably taken shape within my art and personal life. For example, who I associate with and how they affect me emotion­ally has become an important consideration. I simply refuse to be surrounded by negative people--and this includes certain individuals within the medical community. I choose my physi-
by: Brett Curtis Weber, Ph.D.
E very genuine artistic intuition goes beyond what the senses perceive and reaching beneath reality’s surface, strives to interpret its hidden mystery. The intuition itself springs from the depths of the human soul, where the desire to give meaning to one’s own life is joined by the fleeting vision of beauty and of the mysterious unity of things. All artists experience the unbridgeable gap which lies between the work of their hands, however success­ful it may be, and the dazzling perfection of the beauty glimpsed in the ardour of the creative moment: what they manage to express in their painting, their sculpting, their creating is no more than a glimmer of the splendour which flared for a moment before the eyes of their spirit.” - Pope John Paul II, Letter to Artists