I’m pretty sure that more than 73% of me suffers from mental illness.
2 Likes
RIP Jim Gordon. Great when he was well, and so really sad when he wasn’t. He died in prison, never given parole.
I don’t really believe the 73% number. But you don’t get to pick your brain. Hell !
…it’s not the music u might suffer from…“only” the music biz…
apart from that, heaps of music got their creatice core and roots in all sorts of mental issues…
aaaaaaand ooooooor can actually heal them…
to stay free, creative and sensitive…remains a constant challenge…never the less…
suffer ?!?!?!?!?!
hell no.
i enjoy it.
4 Likes
It’s all in how you look at it. Creatives are generally non-neurotypical in many senses (or even being non-neurotypical gives you different lenses…)
Where things become an illness is in the specific structure of our society which rewards and punishes based entirely on contributions to capitalism.
All aspects of our lives are roped into what can make a profit, and all art and artists are funneled into that meatgrinder.
1 Like
73% of the time, all the time!
5 Likes
Irl, half the people in my life who have some form of mental illness / non-neurotypicality have asked if I’ve gotten tested for their specific flavor.
And they’re all very nice and thoughtful about mental health, but it’s funny to basically hear “I’m not sure what is wrong with you, but we can all tell something’s wrong with you.”
1 Like
Hah! Well, there’s a lot of problems with official diagnosis as well.
Most of my close are non-NT in some manner, many of my family as well.
Some are diagnosed with “ADHD” a smaller number with “Autism”, neither diagnosis is severely useful beyond “ADHD” for prescriptions.
Diagnosis with Autism would likely affect my ability to emigrate to many countries, would at best, not make anyone frustrated with my demeanor kinder to me, and some people have been treated worse for it.
Diagnoses are necessarily medicalist approaches where there is often no healthy “treatment” (autism treatments generally revolve around abuse and forcing the person to mask physically, mentally, and all permutations of both) under extreme traumatic cost, no exceptions or accommodations are made.
I do know one person who really wanted to get a diagnosis of autism after a lifetime of being diagnosed with bipolar, the people who already cared about him congratulated him because it was what he was seeking, it did not change his treatment by people who were perpetually frustrated because he didn’t “act right”, they just have a name for what they don’t like about him.
There’s the joke “if you’ve met one non-nt person, you’ve met one!”
It’s hard to figure out what “neurotypical” means in contrast to my daily existence, but I know I’m wordy and chatty and in my 40s happy to be a weirdo who tries to cultivate weirdos around.
Yes there are frustrations with capitalism, with relationships (even to other non-NTs with varying polarity), I think my bigger issues involve trying to network with local musicians when people just don’t get my vibe and try to wrangle me into dadrock or cover bands!
2 Likes
I’ve just begun tapering off my antipsychotic for what was thought to be schizoaffective disorder after 6 years of medication. I haven’t displayed symptoms in 5 years this coming June, and the doctor and my therapist think I will be fine and that it was life events and extreme stress as well as a physical illness that caused the symptoms to manifest years ago.
I’m really happy. I’ll now take an as needed non narcotic anxiety med.
5 Likes
73% of all statistics are made up on the spot
5 Likes
Also, tributes to Mr Apache Beat.
2 Likes
82.4 percent of people believe 'em whether they’re accurate statistics or not
1 Like
Its all BS.
1 Like
I wonder what the % is for dentist? Must be rough being the bane of every child’s existence.
1 Like
- The idea that artists are mentally ill?
- The idea that society labels them as ill?
- (Other? Just curious, not trying to be reductive)
1 Like
2 Likes
Rather than us continuing being suckered by this thread’s title, i’ll consider how some have been able to cope and not entirely lose their creative spark.
I posted about the recent death of Jim Gordon. He spent the last forty years of his life in prison, on an original sixteen year sentence for murder.
Let’s consider someone else, Roky Erickson. His life also included prison, and many difficulties not completely dissimilar to those of Gordon’s. Everyone is different. And yet despite this, he was productive and performed through to the end of his life. ( He died in 2019. )
But i will suggest Erickson was more fortunate, having people around him like his brother who made a difference. This wasn’t a cure, that’s often not realistic, but it was a way that Erickson on his own could continue to create and perform.
I’ll not make a biography of this post, but will link a Wikipedia page should you want to read more.
There is also a short documentary about Erickson.
I will also agree with those who have posted, on how often others have hurt those facing troubles, making life, let aside a creative life, impossible.
1 Like