Very Close to the Edge

“I think that creativity is very close to the edge of neurosis or psychosis… Every creative person has a period of incubation, you might say, before they do any big creative work. It’s very similar to an agitated depression. They’re usually in a very depressed stage, very unsure of themselves, very disturbed indeed, until the creative process gets started, and then it carries them beautifully.”

— Joseph L. Henderson, M.D., Jackson Pollock’s psychiatrist from 1939-40