Recovery from "schizophrenia" and other "psychotic disorders"

I have written elsewhere about links between creativity and psychosis.  In a recent blog entry, Gianna Kali of “BeyondMeds” links to an article describing how teachers in schools all say they seek to encourage creativity, yet their favorite students all tend to be those who show traits incompatible with creativity – those who are good at agreeing, following rules, etc.  Why the discrepancy?  And what does it mean for mental health?

Creativity is extremely valuable, but it can also have high costs.  One of the costs is that people who are attempting to be creative will sometimes make errors, and their attempted improvements will sometimes make things worse.  But if we are to become a society that truly values creativity, we need to recognize that we benefit from those who live more “on the edge” and who sometimes fall off the edge:  instead of stigmatizing them or labeling them as forever ill, we might better collaborate with them in helping them figure out where they might have gone wrong while also staying open to the possibility they have a lot to teach us.

I really wonder how much creative talent is currently buried under high doses of antipsychotic medications……

Martin Luther King often made the point that it is better NOT to be “adjusted” to injustice, and that psychologists often over-emphasize the value of “adjustment.”  He even called for the establishment of a group to champion “creative maladjustment.”  In a talk later broadcast on public radio in Eugene Oregon, three activists including myself talk about what often goes wrong in mental health care currently, and how it might be different if the system really respected the human rights of the people it tried to help and if it acknowledged that being “adjusted” is not the only way to be healthy – and that at times being “maladjusted” is actually more important!

Hear David Oaks, TC Dumas, and myself  at http://www.klcc.org/audio/cityclub2010_01_15.mp3