Performing artists who were exposed to abuse, neglect or a dysfunctional family as a child might experience their creative process more intensely, according to a new long-term study that has found a link between the two.

 

一项长期研究发现，表演艺术家的创造力和童年经历存在联系——童年不幸者（如被虐待、被忽视、家庭不和睦）更富创造力。

 

Psychologists at California State University, Northridge, studied 234 professional performers, looking for a reason why mental health disorders¹ are so common in the performing arts.

 

"The notion that artists and performing artists suffered more pathology, including bipolar disorder², troubled us," psychologist Paula Thomson, a co-author on the new study, told Psypost.

 

The study examined 83 actors, directors, and designers; 129 dancers; and 20 musicians and opera singers. These study participants filled out self-report surveys pertaining³ to childhood adversity, sense of shame, creative experiences, proneness⁴ to fantasies, anxiety, and level of engagement in an activity.

 

The study found that, compared to the original Adverse⁶ Childhood Experiences study conducted back in 1998 on 9,508 adults, performing artists as a group reported a higher level of childhood emotional abuse and neglect.

 

The participants were able to be categorised into three groups: those who reported a high level of childhood adversity; those who had experienced a lower or medium level; and those who had experienced little to none.

 

It's the high-level group that demonstrated the greater extremes. These performing artists had much higher anxiety, much more internalised shame, and reported more cumulative⁷ past traumatic events. They were also more prone⁵ to fantasies.

 

But they also seemed more connected with the creative process, the researchers said. They were more aware of it, and reported feeling more absorbed in it. They reported heightened awareness⁸ of a state of inspiration and a sense of discovery during the process.

 

They were also able to move more easily between the state of absorption and a more distant state for critical awareness, and were more receptive to art.

 

"Lastly," the researchers wrote, "[this] group identified greater appreciation⁹ for the transformational quality of creativity, in particular, how the creative process enabled a deeper engagement with the self and world. They recognised that it operated as a powerful force in their life."

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