Using creative arts to combat depression

If you follow my Facebook page, you might have noticed that I posted this article the other day. It’s an NPR story about a photographer named Tara Wray who used photography to combat her depression. Said Wray:

“Just forcing myself to get out of my head and using the camera to do that is, in a way, a therapeutic tool. It’s like exercise: You don’t want to do it, you have to make yourself do it, and you feel better after you do.”

According to the story, this effort resulted in Wray launching the Too Tired Project, which bills itself as, “a photo initiative and traveling slideshow series that aims to help those struggling with depression by offering a platform for collective creative expression and community.”

Creative arts have been used to fight depression throughout history; indeed, creative arts and depression are often linked. Many of history’s greatest artists have struggled with their own demons.

So, why is it that creative arts can help people with depression?

Well, I think the quote above is at least a piece of the answer. Engaging into some other hobby – getting into a sense of flow, if you will – can get you out of your head. I firmly believe that escaping yourself is a key part of beating depression. Even if it’s for a little bit, you can trick your brain into thinking you are somewhere else, and when you “return,” things just don’t seem as bad.

Wray also notes that the arts can provide an incredible sense of relief and accomplishment: “When I’ve made what I think is a good picture, I can feel it, and everything else momentarily falls away.”

I’ll add two personal experiences. Redemption started for me during a very down period. I was struggling at work (for those of you who follow Pennsylvania politics, it was 2015 and we were just starting a rather infamous budget impasse which was very stressful). My wife had just started at a new school and she was struggling as well. As a result, I needed an escape. And thus, Redemption was born.

Second is the simple fact that it gives you an alternative perspective that is still within you – one that you can still apply to your normal life. Redemption has a few plot threads going on, but it’s core is a twenty year old named Ash, trying to deal with his inner demons, beat his depression and live his life (and save the world but that’s a whole other story!). The book features a cast of characters who help him cope.

This may be an obvious point but for the purposes of this discussion I have to make it: I wrote all of the characters. They are all my voice, my perspective and my experience. But there was something deeply therapeutic about putting that level of advice and support into another character. It reminded me, in a sense, that all the hope, words and inspiration I need are inside of me to begin with.

Creative arts – writing, drawing, photography, whatever – I think they allow you to expunge and make sense of everything ugly inside of you. They force you to think of a perspective outside of yourself. And in that sense, they can help save you.

If you have any other thoughts or experiences, I’d love to hear them.