Applied Project and Research Article Prospectus

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Research Article Prospectus: Creative Ability of Those who are Mentally Ill

My research article will explore the creativity of mentally ill individuals as a sort of meta-analysis. I want to find out if the stereotype that artists are more commonly mentally ill is true. I wish to research because if it is true then there is further neurological research that needs to be done to find out why this is and if it is not true then I want to dispel the stereotype because I believe it further allows the romanticization of mental illness.

This is a topic that not only pertains to both of my disciplines, but strikes close to home. Being a visual artist diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the research question pertains to me personally. In my experience I have not been able to determine if my artistic ability is related in any way to my mental illness. I sometimes struggle to even understand if it inhibits my artistic performance or causes it to flourish. Aside from my personal connection, mental illnesses and the aspects that set them apart from each other have always intrigued me, so I look forward to see if there are marked differences across different disorders on the basis of creativity. Understanding what kinds of creativity are measured will be important as well, I am interested to see if researchers are focused on artistic, musical, scientific, literary, etc.

The audience that I’m looking to write for most pointedly are the mentally ill. I think it will be the most important to analyze and report for that community because there needs to be an understanding of the truthfulness of the well-known claim and stereotype.

One initial question I’ll need to ask myself while researching is where did this idea come from? Who established this link between the mentally ill and those who are creative? A question I’ll need to continually ask myself is, who is doing this research and who specifically is being researched. A final point to make in the research paper is to ask why there is or isn’t a link, and to discuss the research pertaining to that question.

Sources

I will be primarily using the psychology databases for the majority of my research, specifically PsychNET, PsychINFO, Psychotherapy.net, and PsychARTICLES.

Faulkner, A. (2010). The links between creativity and mental illness. Mental Health Today -Brighton-, Sep(Sep), 19-19.Fisher, J. (2015). Challenges in determining whether creativity and mental illness are associated. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00163

Kyaga, S. (2015). Creativity and mental illness : The mad genius in question. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan

Kaplan, A. (2014). Creativity and mental illness. Psychiatric Times,31(4).

Applied Project: “Bad Art Blog”

The concept that I am most interested in pursuing for the applied project is use my Instagram account that I am using as a PLN in conjunction with this blog to create a space for others to become inspired and feel comfortable in their creative journeys. Using #mybadart I will share the less than enviable sketches I created in conjunction with written posts. My goal is to blog to artists about how to deal with hateful criticism and how to give criticism constructively. My thought behind this is that it would work to combat the high standard of art on social media, this idea of artists only creating “perfect” works can be damaging and affect creativity and confidence in younger artists, which is only exacerbated by negative online feedback. With this blog/account I also hope to post works I create in relation to various mental illnesses, with a non-stereotyped take on the disorder. This will give the opportunity to link to the blog and write about these illnesses and further dispel stereotypes and educate others on mental illness. The final focus of this blog will be to create works regarding my emotions for that day, also with the prompting for others to do the same. With these three types of posts my hope is to reduce stress surrounding improving and creating, and try to foster the understanding of mental illness.

With this structure, I want to post an article once a week in relation to a given mental illness, three times a week in reference to #mybadart, and once a week in reference to my emotions.

This idea relates closely to my interdisciplinary learning. My two disciplines are fine art and psychology. This applied project requires a lot of the knowledge of abnormal psychology that I have acquired throughout my education here at Plymouth that I will apply to the blog  posts regarding an accurate depiction of mental illnesses. The skills I have learned to both execute and discuss art will also be very actively implemented in this project.

Research Article & Applied Project Timeline

Week One:

• Do some initial research to determine what studies/articles I want to focus on. Create a list of databases and references

• On blog: One post of “bad art”, and one post discussing : Depression

Week Two:

• Continue Research

• On blog: Post one artwork regarding mood, three posts of “bad art”, and one post discussing: Anxiety

Week Three:

• Outline of paper with rough works cited

• On blog: Post one artwork regarding mood, three posts of “bad art”, and one post discussing: Schizophrenia

Week Four:

• Finalize Introduction and input in text-citations

• On blog: Post one artwork regarding mood, three posts of “bad art”, and one post discussing: Bipolar Disorder

Week Five:

• Complete Rough Draft

• On blog: Post one artwork regarding mood, three posts of “bad art”, and one post discussing: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Week Six:

• Bring paper to writing center and make notes to rework paper

• On blog: Post one artwork regarding mood, three posts of “bad art”, and one post discussing: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder