Painters like Vincent painter, who famously stop his ear and ultimately took his life in 1890, contribute to the present idea, as does the author poet, who died by suicide in 1963. Both artists detailed their psychopathy in writing.

Popular Artists and mental state
Van Gogh sent an 1888 letter to his brother Theo explaining, “I am unable to explain exactly what’s the matter with me.” Plath also wrote about her psychopathy, relating herself as neurotic, depressed, and suicidal in her 1963 semi-autobiographical novel “The protective covering.” Plath and van Gogh were just two of an awfully long list of suffering artists. Edvard Munch, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Frida Kahlo are said to own suffered from depression.

Tortured artists are a bunch so fabled that researchers have kicked off to find if there’s a verifiable link between mood disorders and artistic ability, but the results have largely proven inconclusive. Moreover, certain mood disorders appear to possess stronger links to creativity than others.

Mood Disorders and Artistic Ability
In 2017, the angle on science journal published a study called “Creativity and Mood Disorder: a scientific Review and Meta-Analysis. In contrast, creativity wasn’t related to persistent affective disorder (PDD), also called dysthymia or low-grade depression. Symptoms of PDD are less severe than they’re in major major affective disorder (MDD) but typically last longer, up to 5 years on average. Although major depression and affective disorder are related to creativity, the evidence doesn’t indicate that having a mood disorder enhances an individual’s artistic ability. Rather, the high-pressure and hectic lifestyles of the many artists may result in depressive symptoms, as tight deadlines, high expectations, fierce criticism, and intense travel are common for such individuals.