The term psychedelics is used to describe psychoactive substances that distort mood and perception by affecting numerous cognitive processes. Generally, they are non-addictive and are considered physiologically safe. The term was coined in 1957 by the psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond and has been a common colloquialism for more than sixty years. However, it was and remained… Continue reading
Category: Psychology and Creativity
Hans Prinzhorn’s Research on the Characteristics of Configuration
This article discusses a ‘scale’ implied in Hans Prinzhorn’s pioneering text ‘Artistry of the Mentally Ill,’ on the characteristics of pictorial configuration. These characteristics arise from an artist’s inner psychic world instead of the customs and objects in external reality. This research aims to understand the qualities that inspired the forerunners of surrealism and art… Continue reading
Artistry of the Mentally Ill: Psychiatry and Creativity in the Early 20th Century
This article introduces the psychiatrists from the late 19th century and the early 20th century who played a crucial role in shifting the perspective that a patient’s art was only significant as a diagnostic tool to an eventual appreciation of artistic achievement and merit. This video emphasizes Hans Prinzhorn’s text Artistry of the Mentally Ill… Continue reading
Active Imagination and the Play Instinct
According to Jung, the best way to access unconscious material is by engaging in a process called active imagination. In this article I will discussing active imagination and the ‘play’ instinct and how an individual can engage in this practice. Jung’s interest in the process of active imagination began in 1913 when he began the… Continue reading
The Visionary Artist and the Transcendent Function
In this article I will be discussing Jung’s conceptualization of the transcendent function and how it relates to the creative process. In this article I use the following sources: Jung’s essay The Transcendent Function (1916), the psychologist, Jeffrey Miller’s text The Transcendent Function: Jung’s Model of Psychological Growth (2004), and the Jungian Analyst, Robert Mathews… Continue reading
The Visionary and Psychological Mode of Creativity
Word count: approx 1,200 In the essay ‘On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry’ (1930) Jung describes two modes of creativity. The psychological mode where the artist derives their inspiration from the sphere of conscious experience and the visionary mode which depicts unknown aspects of the unconscious in the form of symbolic and archetypal… Continue reading