I do like the Portland jetport. On a business trip to Lewiston, Maine, last June I passed through this, the tiniest of airports-an enormous contrast to my own behemoth, O'Hare. What a thrill to tap my foot impatiently because of one person ahead of me in line at the check-in counter rather than fall into that helpless stupor that comes while waiting for a queue of a hundred.
In Lewiston, I was invited by St. Mary's Regional Medical Center to speak on the topic of mental illness and creativity. I chose to talk about the phenomenon of the mentally ill creative genius-the Byrons, Lowells, Sextons, Barrymores, and Tennessee Williams of the world. What a rich, fascinating, and profound topic.
Celebrated Johns Hopkins psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison supplied much of the ingredients for my presentation in Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, along with a quirky fellow from the University of Kentucky, Arnold Ludwig. He wrote a volume on the characteristics that comprise all human greatness; poets and writers were only part of his fabric. In The Price of Greatness: Resolving the Creativity and Madness Controversy, Ludwig executed an ingenious methodology simply by relaxing and reading the Sunday New York Times. (There are others. A renowned stigma researcher, Otto Wahl, responsible for Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness, recently told me once that he was able to gather voluminous data on the TV networks only because he was a TV junkie.) Ludwig combed the New York Times book section over a period of thirty years and picked out biographies of the famous and great to read and analyze for the presence of an array of factors, notably the presence, or absence, of depression, mania, psychosis, etc. His findings were unsettling, or remarkable, depending upon your perspective. While there was a weak correlation between overall greatness, in all fields, and mental illness, the occurrence of madness in the ranks of great writers and poets is mind-numbing. A staggering 18% of the poets he studied had committed suicide. The literary group showed two to three times the average rate of psychosis, suicide attempts, mood disorders, and substance abuse. The rate of forced hospitalization was six to seven times that of non-artistic groups such as businessmen, military professionals, public officials, and sports stars.
Jamison's findings are rich and strike a similar vein. In Touched with Fire she employs a technique of "historical diagnosis" to ferret out madness in innumerable great writers and poets. Lord Byron piqued her interest more than any other; she devotes pages and pages to illuminating his "fiery" biography. Prior to writing the 1993 book, Jamison studied the proclivity of British and Irish poets of the 18th century to madness. More than half of the thirty-six she scrutinized demonstrated evidence of a mood disorder. The rate of commitment to lunatic asylums or mad houses was twenty times that of the non-literary population.
Nancy C. Andreason, of the University of Iowa, turned the attention of scientists away from historical analysis to a study of contemporary writers taking part in the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. Of the thirty she studied, 80% reported some mood or substance abuse problem. This compared to 30% for a control group that was included in the study.
Where does this leave us? How is this relevant to the work we do at The Awakenings Review? I've said before that these data would support the premise that The Awakenings Review is an imperative publication. I believe there's a need for us; thus far we've seen strong support, not only in the numbers of submissions but in the letters and messages we've received. We should be able to find a place in the literary community. There should be a vein, a rich vein, of literature that would find a home in The Awakenings Review. Moreover, the responsibility is ours to manage this publication well, to keep it alive and not let it go "belly up," as one of the writers in this issue says is too common with literary magazines. Another implication is that, with so many writers and poets experiencing mental illness, they should find courage to be counted by this publication. They should consider disclosure, for their benefit and the benefit of the greater literary community.
The Awakenings Review, as a part of The Awakenings Project, is taking a large step forward. As of early July we've been dedicated to seeing the Awakenings Project become a non-profit 501 ( c) 3 corporation. It's a challenging move forward, and will without a doubt cost us addition money for insurance, legal fees, and accounting, but the time is ripe. We hope very much that we can have your support.
There were many hands that joined together in bringing about this issue. Co-director of the Awakenings Project, Irene O'Neill, has been a great friend and an enthusiastic supporter and participant. Thanks to my parents, Margaret and Robert, for their encouragement and support. We offer appreciation to Moe Armstrong and the Vinfen Peer Education Project for teaching from this journal in classes around Massachusetts. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of DuPage County, Illinois, Richard Kuna president, has been a steady supporter of The Awakening Project. I am personally grateful for the support at Kenyon College from Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Edwards and Dr. Ronald Sharp. From the University of Chicago I'd like to thank Barbara Blaser and Dr. Patrick Corrigan.
On the production end, Lisa Morehead has been an invaluable member of the team, as has Jean Hiltz. In editorial I'd like to recognize and thank Paul McComas, Bill Bell, Wendy Liles, Virginia Goldrick, Laurie Didesch, Ben Beyerlein, Margaret Giesecke, and Bill Clark. And most of all, I'd like to thank you, our reader.
Robert Lundin: Editor