Creativity and Madness: New Findings and Old Stereotypes

by Albert Rothenberg MD

Overview

Intrigued by history's list of "troubled geniuses,"Albert Rothenberg investigates how two such opposite conditions—outstanding creativity and psychosis—could coexist in the same individual. Rothenberg concludes that high-level creativity transcends the usual modes of logical thought—and may even superficially resemble psychosis. But he also discovers that all types of creative thinking generally occur in a rational and conscious frame of mind, not in a mystically altered or transformed state.

Far from being the source—or the price—of creativity, Rothenberg discovers, psychosis and other forms of mental illness are actually hindrances to creative work. Disturbed writers and absent-minded professors make great characters in fiction, but Rothenberg has uncovered an even better story—the virtually infinite creative potential of healthy human beings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421400471
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	09/01/1994
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Albert Rothenberg, M.D., is clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and director of research at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. His books include The Emerging Goddess: The Creative Process in Art, Science, and Other Fields.

Albert Rothenberg, M.D., is clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and director of research at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. His books include The Emerging Goddess: The Creative Process in Art, Science, and Other Fields.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. A Scientist Looks at Creativity
Chapter 2. The Creative Process in Art and Science
Chapter 3. Inspiration and the Creative Process
Chapter 4. The Mystique of the Unconscious and Creativity
Chapter 5. Psychosis and the Creation of Poetry
Chapter 6. Self-Destruction and Self-Creation
Chapter 7. The Perils of Psychoanalyzing (or Scandalizing) Emily Dickinson
Chapter 8. The Psychosis and Triumph of August Strindberg
Chapter 9. Homosexuality and Creativity
Chapter 10. The Muse in the Bottle
Chapter 11. Eugene O'Neill's Creation of The Iceman Cometh
Chapter 12. Creativity and Mental Illness
Chapter 13. Psychotherapy and Creativity
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

Albert Rothenberg has devoted the major part of a distinguished career to a broad program of research on creativity. In his excellent, concise volume, he reports his current views on this fascinating subject . . . It is well-argued and judicious and, therefore, a useful introduction to the domain of creativity research.
--Journal of the American Medical Association

This intriguing theory will no doubt provoke lively debate both in and outside professional circles. For lay readers, however, the book's real pleasure lies in the substantive analyses of Sylvia Plath, August Strindberg, Emily Dickenson, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, and William Faulkner.
--Wilson Library Bulletin

From the Publisher

Albert Rothenberg has devoted the major part of a distinguished career to a broad program of research on creativity. In his excellent, concise volume, he reports his current views on this fascinating subject . . . It is well-argued and judicious and, therefore, a useful introduction to the domain of creativity research.

Journal of the American Medical Association

This intriguing theory will no doubt provoke lively debate both in and outside professional circles. For lay readers, however, the book's real pleasure lies in the substantive analyses of Sylvia Plath, August Strindberg, Emily Dickenson, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, and William Faulkner.

Wilson Library Bulletin