Creativity, Spirituality, and Mental Health

(1995), written from a theological perspective, draws upon Winnicott to explore the origins of hope in childhood. Similarly, Erikson (1964) associates hope with early trust. In my work as a mental health chaplain, I attempt to assist patients in imagining a more positive future, often drawing upon the resources of story and metaphor from sacred texts to do so. The ability to fantasize enables humans to hope, tell stories, and to heal, and I find that narrative therapy, story telling, and the use of metaphor are well-suited to a religious context.

The mood disorders unit of the psychiatric hospital where I work offers a unique testing ground for investigating the relationship between mental health, creativity, and religious experience. In Touched with Fire (1993), Kay Redfield Jamison explores the connection between an artistic temperament and mania, and Goodwin and Jamison, in their classic text Manic-depressive Illness (1990), suggest that many religious leaders may have suffered from manic-depressive illness. Religion frequently serves as a template for manic and hypomanic visions and experiences, and patients understandably experience confusion when their visions are diagnosed as delusions. Yet there is meaning in every delusion, whether it entails believing one is the Second Coming of Christ or thinking one is the Queen.

From 2006 to 2009,1 was involved in a research project with the Stress and Anxiety Research Unit of the Institute for Mental Health Research (IMHR), University of Ottawa. The first pilot study was oriented around using a spiritually-based therapy for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Our treatment protocol drew upon Roger Walsh's book Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind (1999). My academic training is in theology, religious studies, and pastoral counseling. Since beginning to work in a mental health context in 2005,1 have attended training workshops in a number of therapeutic modalities, including cognitive behavior therapy, interpersonal therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, spiritually integrated therapy, and group therapy. All these have informed the way I think and work.