Creativity and Drugs

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Some young people have an image of artists, writers, actors, and others in the creative and performing arts as heavy users or abusers of drugs and alcohol. What follows from that image is the idea that drug use stimulates creativity or improves the artistic experience. However, there is little scientific evidence that alcohol and drug use actually increase creativity.

In particular, people have taken psychedelic drugs, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), mescaline, and methylene dioxyamphetamine (MDA) to increase their appreciation of art, to improve artistic techniques, and to enhance creativity. Marijuana, too, has been used to enhance creativity, to heighten one's sense of meaningfulness, and to expand one's range of perceptions. Countless people worldwide have used alcohol to loosen their inhibitions, to become more spontaneous, and to encourage originality.

One reason drugs are thought to inspire creativity is that psychoactive substances can produce altered states of consciousness. People on drugs think differently—they no longer distinguish between cause and effect, and they accept ideas that logically contradict each other. Often even their sense of time changes. They experience their emotions in a different way, and feel as though the boundary between themselves and the world dissolves. This sense of merging with the world is often described as a feeling of "oneness," and people may feel that they have been reborn. They may also have illusions and hallucinations, and at the same time feel that they see things more clearly.

After going through these altered states, it is not surprising that people may believe certain drug experiences lead to greater creativity. However, having creative thoughts while on a drug does not necessarily lead to the act of creating. In fact, drugs usually interfere with translating those thoughts into paintings or poems or musical compositions.

Do new perceptions experienced while on a drug spur more artistic creations? The creative process involves discovery and insight, as well as discipline to create something lasting. A lasting creative product has the qualities of novelty, surprise, uniqueness, originality, andbeauty. There is no evidence that alcohol and drugs actually contribute to the creative process, or that they result in more creative products. A person may feel that he or she has had original perceptions while on a drug; however, that sense of originality is related to the altered state of being on the drug. Once the drug's effects fade, the novelty wears off, and thus the perceptions experienced as part of a drug high contribute nothing toward a creative work of lasting benefit or value.

Only a few studies have explored the effect of drugs on creativity. The ones that exist show that drugs actually diminish rather than enhance creativity. This is especially true when drugs are taken in large amounts and over an extended period of time.

In a study conducted in 1946, a researcher asked seventeen artists who drank to describe how alcohol affected their work. All but oneregarded the short-term effects of alcohol as harmful to their work, although they sometimes drank in order to overcome technical difficulties. In general, the artists said alcohol increased their sense of freedom when they approached their work but decreased their ability to get the work done in a skillful way. In a 1990 study involving thirty-four people in the arts, another researcher found that more than 75 percent of artists or performers who drank heavily felt that alcohol had negative effects on their creative activity, particularly when they drank while working.

Drugs and alcohol may actually interfere with an individual's ability to express creativity, because alcohol and drugs:

• May make users drowsy or sedated
• May hinder an individual's ability concentrate
• May interfere with coordination
• May blow out of proportion the importance of insignificant thoughts or details

Furthermore, the pursuit of more drugs and alcohol may take on more importance than the individual's artistic pursuit.

Given that no proof exists to show that drugs or alcohol enhance creativity, why are they used more widely within the artistic professions than among the general population? Probably the answer lies in the reasons why other people use drugs: to increase enjoyment of social occasions, to relax, to have pleasurable feelings.

Writers, artists, actors, or musicians may write about, portray, or act out certain aspects of their drug experiences. But this does not mean that these experiences are essential for the creative process. Creative people often use all aspects of their experiences, whether drug-induced or not, in a creative way. They try to translate personal visions and insights within their own fields of expression into art that other people can appreciate. Drug-induced experiences have little value or meaning for anyone other than, perhaps, substance users themselves.

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (Lsd) and Psychedelics.

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