Emotional Health and Creative People with Psychologist Cheryl Arutt
Douglas Eby
Writer/online publisher on emotional health, creative people, personal growth psychology, high sensitivity, giftedness, and more. M.A./Psychology. I am highly sensitive & 2E, among other facets.
Cheryl Arutt notes in a podcast interview, “Creativity is being able to act out in a way that’s constructive.
She adds, “It is the opposite of rigidity, and being locked down. You have access to yourself. And it often operates in a very unconscious way.”
Interviewer Kate Shepherd asks: “What is it that we are doing as a culture, as a group to so readily believe that story, “Oh, I’m not creative.” – cuz it is everywhere and it’s so obviously not true.
“But so many people are so quick to believe that and embrace that idea and almost hide behind it. Like, what are we scared of? Or why do we believe that?”
Cheryl Arutt: “I think that a lot of what makes us pull back from that when we get older than kindergarten is perfectionism and our inner critic.
“We can put so much pressure on ourselves and feeling like, Oh, I’m not good at this, or I’m not good enough, or as good as this other person is.
“And if you have your inner critic on your shoulder the whole time you’re creating something, it’s very difficult to hear yourself think.”
Dr. Arutt also finds “Creating art has always been a way to channel emotional intensity…
"If you are an artist, you are your instrument. The greater access you maintain to yourself, the richer and broader your array of creative tools.”
In our interview, she talks about the concept of the Shadow Self that psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung addressed in his therapy work and writings.
She notes that our emotional health and balance, perhaps especially for artists, may depend on having some understanding and acceptance of the darker or uncomfortable sides of ourselves – and this also gives us more power to make aware choices rather than just react to life unconsciously.
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This is a favorite topic of both of us, and Dr. Arutt talks about the fears many artists have about treating their depression, anxiety or other challenges, and then numbing or losing their creativity.
She points out that certain forms of psychotherapy and techniques such as EMDR can be very effective in helping creative people get past the emotional pains which interfere with their creativity.
“Unfortunately, many people are prescribed psychiatric medications by their general physician who may not be informed or trained well enough about this class of medications, resulting in people getting drug treatment that may not be helpful.”
Dr. Arutt refers to her TEDx video?“That Good Feeling of Control”?below [in the article], and notes the title comes from TV host Fred Rogers who wanted to teach kids how to deal with the “mad” they felt inside, and be able to decide what to do with these kinds of strong feelings.
She says that what he was talking about was self-regulation and affect regulation that can help us as adults, too.
She thinks most forms of mental illness “can be traced to some form of dysregulation, either over-control or under-control.”
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Hear two podcast episodes and see much more in article:
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