Abstract

The author reviews traditional beliefs about creative illness and suggests that their endorsement of euphoric bingeing misleads writers. Productive creativity seems to occur more reliably with moderation of work duration and of emotions, not with the fatigue and ensuing depression of binge writing. The author compares binge writers to a matched sample of novice professors who wrote in brief, daily sessions and with generally mild emotions. Binge writers (a) accomplished far less writing overall, (b) got fewer editorial acceptances, (c) scored higher on the Beck Depression Inventory, and (d) listed fewer creative ideas for writing. These data suggest that creative illness, defined by its common emotional state for binge writers (i.e., hypomania and its rushed euphoria brought on by long, intense sessions of working—followed by depression), offers more problems (e.g., working in an emotional, rushed, fatiguing fashion) than magic. The example of Joseph Conrad supports these findings.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1997-10-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088397014004001
Open Access
Closed
Topics

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Written Communication

Cites in this index (2)

  1. Written Communication
  2. College Composition and Communication
Also cites 17 works outside this index ↓
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  2. 10.1037/0033-2909.104.1.3
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  11. The man of genius
  12. 10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1992.46.3.330
  13. Creativity and madness
  14. 10.1016/0191-8869(88)90135-3
    Personality and Individual Differences  
  15. 10.1037/0033-2909.104.1.23
  16. 10.17763/haer.63.4.m42704n778561176
  17. 10.1037/1040-3590.5.2.173
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