@JosephMeyer @MolemanPeter @WorldImagining @albertcardona @NicoleCRust

I believe there is a connection between creativity and depression (though this is based on experience, not on real data), but it is definitely not that you are creative while depressed. While in depression it can be a struggle just to get out of bed and eat; creative juices are not flowing. Nothing is flowing, except darkness and pain.

But I think that whatever gives rise to creativity, or at least one form of whatever gives rise to creativity, is linked to a vulnerability to depression. Creativity involves an inward search, deep introspection, far more I think than the average person usually experiences. And rumination, when focused on the painful aspects of one's life (and almost every bit of life has some pain and cringe along with joy and accomplishment) and of one's anticipated future, is a key aspect of depression. Somehow this inward focus that can lead to creativity can also, in some subset at least, yield vulnerability to depression.