Philosophical Thoughts: Artists & Depression

An artist’s ability to care is literally their greatest talent, and their greatest weakness. If you love or you are an artist suffering from depression, please remember that it isn’t something one can “snap out of.” Even without chemical imbalances (which are often involved), healing involves re-learning how to view and respond to the world.

The nature of an artist is to look. An artist pays attention to details; finds beauty in the mundane. Artists see importance in things that non-artists may not even notice. Everyone would see the beauty and importance of these things if they looked, but artists are the ones who MUST see these things in order to be successful.

But to see beauty and  importance is to care. Since it is the artist’s nature to see beauty, artists tend to care about a lot of people, animals, plants, etc. This causes a lot of emotional stress. With animals and objects, it is enough to care what happens to them; but with people there’s also the worry about whether the cares are returned. Anyone that’s experienced middle school knows that worrying about whether someone cares about you can be extremely stressful. As adults, we are expected to deal with the fact that not everyone will approve of what we do or who we are, but for artists, this is hard because they care about so many of those people, and one can't be indifferent to those one cares about. All in all, it makes artists far more vulnerable to depression.

What to do? Just understand. If you’re the one that cares too much, understand that it’s okay; because it makes you who you are and you are amazing. If you’re the one who loves someone who cares too much… Well, just understand. Believe me. It does help.