The Van Gogh Blues : The Creative Person's Path Through Depression

Using examples of famous (Vincent Van Gogh, Fyodor Dostoyevksy) and not so famous artists and creative people who have struggled with depression, Dr Maisel shows what lessons can be learned from them and how depression can be harnesed and put to creative use. His four-step, non-pharmaceutical treatment plan offers insights for anyone involved in the creative process and legitimizes for many creative people suffering from depression their own instinctive feeling that standard treatments are not the whole answer.

"The Van Gogh Blues is a courageous and insightful gift to all writers, artists, and others whose efforts and hopes have been hobbled by depression. Eric Maisel shows us how to stay out of depression's clutches so that we can consistently move forward with dignity, resolve, and unassailable passion."

--Sharon Lebell, author of The Art of Living

"Maisel's concepts in The Van Gogh Blues are right on the mark and address an area that is critically important and largely neglected. In addition, his writing style is superb."

--John Preston, Psy.D., author of Consumer's Guide to Psychiatric Drugs

From The Van Gogh Blues . . .

" . . . virtually 100 percent of creative people will suffer from episodes of depression. Why virtually 100 percent? Because every creative person came out of the womb ready to interrogate life and determine for herself what life would mean, could mean, and should mean. Her gift or curse was that she was born ready to stubbornly doubt received wisdom and disbelieve that anyone but she was entitled to provide answers to her own meaning questions."

Creative people of all kinds look for understanding, empathy, and meaning in life. That is what they do, what they work with. This fact will to lead to depression--but not because understanding, empathy, and meaning are not possible. They are simply not always on terms that are easy to accept. This depression of creative people does not have to be physiological, nor does it necessarily respond to pharmaceutical treatments.

Dr. Eric Maisel, an internationally known expert on the creative process and best-selling author, has developed a four-step plan for engaging this type of depression and moving past it. Using examples of famous creators like Vincent van Gogh and Fyodor Dostoyevsky and not-so-famous creators who have struggled with this kind of depression, he shows that despite the difficulty, creative people hold the ability to forge relationships, repair themselves, and create meaning in an utterly unique and powerful way. Dr. Maisel's approach legitimizes creative people's own instinctual beliefs that standard treatments are not the answer.