Relationships between depression, self-reflection, brooding, and creative thinking in a psychiatric sample.

Abstract

Although symptoms of depression likely interfere with creative thinking, rates of mood disorders appear to be higher than average in creative samples. Previous research has shown that a possible link between depression and creativity might best be explained by self-reflection, defined as the tendency to ponder or contemplate information related to the self. However, previous findings are constrained by the use of nonclinical student samples and the inability to examine the role of specific diagnoses associated with depressive symptoms. To extend previous research, the present study investigated cross-sectional relationships between depressive symptoms, self-reflection, brooding, and the generation of original and valuable ideas in a transdiagnostic psychiatric sample (n ϭ 230). Results from path analyses showed that across the total sample, self-reflection did not significantly relate to outcomes. In contrast, depressive symptoms related to lower originality, and brooding related to higher value. Relationships were not moderated by a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. These findings suggest that depressive symptoms relate to different aspects of creative thinking (i.e., the ability to come up with original vs. valuable ideas) in contradictory ways. We discuss implications for the study of creativity, and emphasize the need to communicate these findings accurately and effectively in clinical contexts to support recovery and mood stability.

The Influence of Post-Traumatic Growth on College Students’ Creativity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of General Self-Efficacy and the Moderating Role of Deliberate Rumination

“…Therefore, in mental health counseling and interventions for college students, it is important to help them to transform cathartic negative thoughts and emotions into positive perceptions of the traumatic event in order to facilitate the occurrence of PTG. Further, deliberate rumination had a positive effect on college students' creativity (Verhaeghen et al, 2005(Verhaeghen et al, , 2014Forgeard et al, 2020). In past studies, self-efficacy and rumination were considered as important factors influencing individual physical and mental growth, with the former often representing a positive influence and the latter being associated with mental illness (Takagishi et al, 2013;Karabati et al, 2017;Nota and Coles, 2018), However, the two dimensions of rumination have not been comprehensively discussed.…”

“…Iterative rumination on individuals and events is also an important factor in the development of creativity (Verhaeghen et al, 2005). For example, it has been suggested that rumination contributes to the development of higher-value creative ideas (Forgeard et al, 2020). Self-reflective rumination stimulates interest in creative behavior (Verhaeghen et al, 2005(Verhaeghen et al, , 2014.…”

“…However, individuals can also increase their self-confidence by recalling positive examples through rumination (Bandura, 1997). At the same time, creative ideas and material from life can be obtained through rumination (Forgeard et al, 2020). It has been shown that intrusive rumination is positively correlated with creativity (Wang et al, 2021) and that intrusive rumination may promote deliberate rumination (Kamijo and Yukawa, 2018).…”

A Positive Role of Negative Mood on Creativity: The Opportunity in the Crisis of the COVID-19 Epidemic

“…Interestingly, in a study by Jamison et al (1980), people with bipolar disorder reported that their depression state led to a heightened sensitivity to their mood, which in turn had a positive effect on their creativity. Kaufmann (2015) and Forgeard et al (2020) have also found that negative mood was beneficial when identifying problems and evaluating ideas during creative thinking (for example, to measure the quality of one's ideas). Supported by such evidence, other scholars believed that the stimulative effect of depression state in the creative process was due to the increased introspection, which led to high sensitivity to internal content (Richards, 1981).…”

“…Depression and rumination are closely related. Forgeard et al (2020) found that rumination can explain the relationship between depressive symptoms and the generation of more valuable ideas. This may be because the fact that the rumination made people set a high and strict standard for themselves, and people may use these same standards to produce thoughts.…”