Stress and Illness   |   Creativity and Health

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Depression


This website - and accompanying book - embraces the view of the World Health Organisation  that health is not merely the absence of illness, but the active presence of well-being and thriving.

Health and illness can be strongly influenced by...
- on the one hand, certain "creative forces" within us like joy and love, that uphold an innate state of creativity - and ultimate health
- on the other hand, certain "forces of stress" like fear and anger, that endanger our health, well-being and happiness (and even our basic safety).

Here is a sample list ofinnate "creative assets":
- joy (our innate ability to take pleasure even simply from being alive)
- love (a human affinity for others - even for our own self - that does not rely on putting them/ us on a pedestal)
- creative motivation (our natural "get up and go")
- free will (what we really want to do, not out of compulsion or by force of habit, but out of an interest in what gives real meaning)
- curiosity (what actually interests us)
- spontaneity (not forced or expected, but arising by itself)
- sociality (our natural inclination to be with others, and belong with them to a wider community)

A quick glance down this list shows how important our innate, self-creativity is to staying free from depression, a disorder described in the World Health Organisation ICD-10 classification as characterised by:
- lowering of mood (varying little from day to day, and being unresponsive to circumstances)
- reduction of energy
- decrease in activity
- reduced capacity for enjoyment, interest, and concentration
- reduced self-esteem and self-confidence ("almost always")
- loss of interest and pleasurable feelings ("may accompany")

Diseases like depression assuredly can, and do, take away our innate creativity... but maybe there are times when the reverse can also be said to apply, such that a loss of self-creativity leaves us more exposed to depression.

Either way, it's surely helpful to:
- promote "creative forces" within us like joy and love
- tackle certain health-taking "forces of stress" like fear and anger that reside within our head (and sometimes also culture) and potentially crowd out our innate creativity.

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[Nb this website is not a replacement for professional help where needed.]