Psychological Differences Between Greek Artists With and Without History of Major Psychopathology

ABSTRACT

Investigation of the relationship between creativity and psychopathology has yielded mixed results with few studies investigating the impact of psychopathology on creativity among professional artists. To address this gap, the present study compared 115 living Greek artists, with and without major psychiatric disorder, using self-report questionnaires measuring defense styles (DSQ-40), ego boundaries (BQ-18), and early trauma inventory (ETI-SR-SF). An open-ended exploratory questionnaire inquired about the effects of their psychological issues, upon their creative work. Results showed that artists with psychiatric disorder had thinner ego boundaries, employed more immature defense mechanisms, and reported higher rates of childhood trauma as well as expressing their creative endeavor as a “need” rather than “desire” and relied on their creative work as the sole means of livelihood.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychopathology
• creativity
• art
• defense mechanisms
• ego boundaries
• trauma
• creativity in counseling