The Mental Health Myth of the Tortured Artist

How this stereotype can hurt more than it can help

In January of this year, the Philippine rock music world was jarred by the suicide of a musician that he himself captured through his phone on Facebook Live.

At the wake of such tragedies, we are moved to reflect on difficult questions: What can we do aside from expressing our collective grief and sending messages of “Kumusta ka?” (How are you?) to our peers? How can we actively contribute to building communities where the tragic fate of artists is less likely to happen?

Knowledge plays an important role in answering these difficult questions. Given the many stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding mental health, it is important to reevaluate our beliefs and arm ourselves with information that can help us become better mental health advocates.

One mental health stereotype that we have held on for too long is that of the tormented artist.

Creativity does not have to come with torment

It is easy to think of artists — musicians, writers, painters, and the like — who have suffered from mental illness. In psychology, this is called availability bias, the tendency to base conclusions on how readily we can think of examples that support them. Since the deaths of…