Art helps people cope with mental illness (From Worcester News)

Art helps people cope with mental illness

6:00am Wednesday 17th October 2007 in

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Talent and torment can be closely linked - for both good and bad, as James Connell found out MENTAL illness is often seen as the dark side of a great talent and the image of the tormented artist is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

Art and literature are littered with the names of hugely talented men and women who have suffered from depression, anxiety and psychosis.

Vincent van Gogh cut off part of his left ear when his friendship with Gaugin broke down, Edvard Munch had bipolar disorder and Virginia Woolf drowned herself by weighing her pockets with stones and walking into the River Ouse.

Talent and torment can be closely linked but if creativity is a symptom of mental illness, it is also a weapon to be deployed against it.

Twenty-four-year-old Anthony Milner, from Droitwich, has been passionate about art since he was at school but it was not until he reached university that he experienced his first bout of mental illness. It left him feeling overwhelmed and isolated and was followed by a psychotic breakdown.

He found himself unable to cope with life and had to spend two months in hospital recovering.

Anthony's artwork, such as his painting Psychosis, which shows a baby curled up in a ball surrounded by hands all bearing down on it, express the feelings of claustrophobia and suffocation he felt at the height of his illness.

Although he found it impossible to produce anything during his illness, he has since recovered and returned to those troubled times as a source of inspiration.

He even completed his dissertation on mental health and how it affected his work.

Anthony said: "I thought people could read my mind and everything around me was directed at me. It took me a long time to get back to reality. Then I joined the Shrub Hill Art Workshop six months after I had been ill. Art just relaxes you. You can just focus on something completely different. It's quite peaceful - you can express yourself. I try to express how I felt when I was ill. I still don't feel confident enough to be alone.

"I didn't know too much about mental illness before I was ill and I think if people were more educated about mental illness it would help."

Anthony displayed his work at the 4 in 4 exhibition for World Mental Health Day at the University of Worcester and also attends the Shrub Hill Workshop, run by artist and instructor Jayne Gaze of the Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. The exhibition continues at the university's Cotswold Gallery until Friday, November 9.

The title is derived from the fact that one in four people have mental health issues - although, in this case, all four exhibiting artists have such issues, hence the title 4 in 4.

Another of the exhibitors, John Greenhalgh, aged 41, from Worcester, is an artist and designer who has been producing paintings for the past 25 years.

He suffers from schizophrenia and has produced striking images, both realistic and abstract.

In contrast to Anthony, who was not able to produce anything when he was ill, John's artistic output tends to increase at this point.

John, who sometimes hears voices or has auditory hallucinations, was diagnosed with the condition while at university. He said: "I find art very therapeutic, no matter what shape I'm in. If I'm ill I can always do my art. I find if I'm hearing voices I can get quite imaginative."

Exhibitor Steven Jew, aged 48, also of Worcester, has a personality disorder. He said: "I find that I enjoy painting because it gives me satisfaction - striving to achieve an aim. Painting makes me feel excited and exuberant, but sometimes it's a struggle to keep patient with the work."

To find out more, visit www.artinminds.org.uk.