Creativity and healing: How creative media help us cope with mental illness

The goal of this thesis is to explore the intersection between creativity and mental illness and provide a comprehensive review and analysis of the many forms of creative media that individuals utilize to cope with and communicate about mental illness. Research methods include the use of extensive textual analysis of creative media about mental illness and interviewing students who use creative activities to help them cope with their mental illness and with therapists who use creative activities in their practice. Overall, there are six themes in the interview results, including Whatever Floats Your Boat, Flexibility is Good, Mind-Body Connection, Creative Tribes, I’d Rather Make Art, and I’m Not Creative. Results indicate that creativity is a powerful tool for communicating about mental illness and for influencing stigma.