Creative people will experience depression—that’s a given. It’s a given because they are regularly confronted by doubts about the meaningfulness of their efforts. Theirs is a kind of depression that does not respond to pharmaceutical treatment. What’s required is healing in the realm of meaning. In this groundbreaking book, Eric Maisel teaches creative people how to handle these recurrent crises of meaning and how to successfully manage the anxieties of the creative process. Using examples both from the lives of famous creators such as van Gogh and from his own creativity coaching practice, Maisel explains that despite their inevitable difficulties, creative people possess the ability to forge relationships, repair themselves, and find meaning in their work and their lives. Maisel presents a step-by-step plan to help creative people handle their special brand of depression and rediscover the reasons they are driven to create in the first place. ""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" " The Van Gogh Blues is a mind-blowingly wonderful book." -- Midwest Book Review "Maisel persuasively argues that creative individuals measure their happiness and success by how much meaning they create in their work." -- Library Journal "Rather than shunning conventional treatments such as antidepressants and therapy, Maisel espouses confrontation with what seems like the existential pit of despair, the place creators often find themselves when looking for meaning in their work and the world. The Van Gogh Blues will help you remain true to your artistic calling and give you a medicine chest of tips and advice you can leverage if the Black Dog or another pernicious emotional booby trap snarls behind your canvas." -- Jeffrey M. Freedman , screenwriter, Vivaldi , and journalist-author " The Van Gogh Blues is a mind-blowingly wonderful book.” — Midwest Book Review "Maisel persuasively argues that creative individuals measure their happiness and success by how much meaning they create in their work.” — Library Journal “Rather than shunning conventional treatments such as antidepressants and therapy, Maisel espouses confrontation with what seems like the existential pit of despair, the place creators often find themselves when looking for meaning in their work and the world. The Van Gogh Blues will help you remain true to your artistic calling and give you a medicine chest of tips and advice you can leverage if the Black Dog or another pernicious emotional booby trap snarls behind your canvas.” — Jeffrey M. Freedman , screenwriter, Vivaldi , and journalist-author The Van Gogh Blues The Creative Person's Path Through Depression By Eric Maisel New World Library Copyright © 2002 Eric Maisel All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-57731-604-6 Contents PREFACE, INTRODUCTION, 1 TWO MEANING CASUALTIES, 2 REFLECTING ON MEANING, 3 MEANINGFUL LIFE, MEANINGFUL WORK, MEANINGFUL DAYS, 4 SOUNDING SILENCE, 5 OPTING TO MATTER, 6 RECKONING WITH THE FACTS OF EXISTENCE, 7 BRAVING ANXIETY, 8 NURTURING SELF-SUPPORT, 9 DISPUTING YOUR HAPPY BONDAGES, 10 CONFRONTING NARCISSISM, 11 REPAIRING THE SELF, 12 FORGING RELATIONSHIPS, 13 MEANINGFULLY CREATING, 14 TAKING ACTION, 15 MAKING MEANING, CONCLUSION, APPENDIX: YOUR VOCABULARY OF MEANING, ENDNOTES, INDEX, ABOUT THE AUTHOR, CHAPTER 1 TWO MEANING CASUALTIES Meaning is our territory, and casualties on the battlefield of meaning are our subjects. Depression in creative people is essentially a meaning problem and must be handled by a meaning expert: you. Right now you may not consider yourself a meaning expert or even understand the phrase. But as you read along, you will come to understand what a meaning expert is, what she does, and why you must become one. To be more accurate about it, you will want to become a meta-meaning expert. Your job isn't to find one particular meaning and adopt it as your way of life but rather to learn about the vagaries of meaning, about how meaning comes and goes, about what sustains meaning, and why meaning sometimes vanishes. Then, when you feel yourself becoming depressed, you will know to say, "Must be a meaning crisis!" You will know what to do next to plug up the hole through which meaning is escaping. Even the greatest meaning expert can't keep meaning from leaking out and draining away, but you can learn how to restore meaning and recover from meaning