Depression in Artists by AD 3/27/02 Continued...

AD asked why artists may be depressed (refer to 3/27/02 post).

I was a professional artist who received many, many fellowships and was recognized in the New Yorker, NYTimes etc and etc.

I am now a family therapist. I can give you many reasons why artists are often depressed. One of the largest is misplaced expectations encouraged by the society that one be "special" and not "ordinary." So if an artist does not "make it" then he or she is depressed because he or she did not get recognized, did not make it big, did not get the income he or she wanted.

I was "successful" and was not depressed as an artist. But I saw through the sham of "artist" and left the profession as fundamentally hokey and hyped. Artists in this society are encouraged to be under the false illusion and expectation that they are somehow better than other people--this is the narcissistic conundrum that will certainly cause depression, which anyone with narcissistic overlay will eventually exhibit.

In a nutshell, better not to be an "artist" and instead learn to be you, an ordinary average person. And you will have to define this "you" by yourself, because others do not know how to help you find yourself, because others can't find themselves. There are too many illusions in this society. Artist is one of them.

Take care all you who aspire to be an artist. Look more deeply into yourselves and become happy with who you are as a unique individual NOW, without having to perform, without having to match some unattainable ideal.

Replies:

Ordinary and Extraordinary, by Seer, 07/27/02 Re:Ordinary and Extraordinary, by Lindsay Smith, 07/27/02 Re:Ordinary and Extraordinary, by Ordinary Person, 07/27/02 The Ordinary Truth, by Seer, 07/28/02 Re:The Ordinary Truth, by Seer's fan, 07/29/02 Especially for the "Ordinary Person", by Seer, 07/28/02 Re:Especially for the , by Seer, 07/29/02 Re:Especially for the , by Seer, 07/29/02 Re:Especially for the , by ordinary person, 08/02/02 some more thoughts on extra and ordinary, by neeru, 09/23/02 Re:some more thoughts on extra and ordinary, by mijoe, 09/29/02 Re:some more thoughts on extra and ordinary, by neeru, 10/04/02 Re:Depression in Artists by AD 3/27/02 Continued..., by , 07/29/02 Re:Depression in Artists by AD 3/27/02 Continued..., by Seer, 07/29/02 Re:Depression in Artists by AD 3/27/02 Continued..., by Seer, 07/30/02 Re:Depression in Artists by AD 3/27/02 Continued..., by DrNastyAssQuackShrink, 12/20/02

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