#7: The Creative Guide to Mental Health

[00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of the life we create. I am Cobain Rivers, Je m’appelle Taylor Joy Stevens, Je m’appelle…. We just went French on them. Ooh, international.

It's episode seven. You're here with us on another glorious Friday, and we're happy to have you. We're happy to be here in this space with you. The happiest. We'd like you to do some things for us, though. Like, subscribe, follow, share, review, review, review. Do them thangs. Mm hmm. Please. Do them thangs. Please.

Your support means the world. Shout out Dina for a beautiful review on our podcast. We love you. Thank you. Mm hmm. This week, on this episode, we're talking to you about creativity. In mental health. Yes. And using creativity as a mental health tool, [00:01:00] specifically. Because it has the power to do that it does what I think about creativity as a mental health tool one of the things I think about is how I got into creativity and That was really coming from a place of being an only child And so I kind of had to create Excitement for myself at times when I would get bored.

Um, my mom, greatest mom in the world. I, you know, at least I think so I may be biased. Um, but she wasn't always around, uh, you know, my mom had to go to work. Uh, so as an only child, sometimes you got to figure out, you know, how to entertain yourself. So even if I'm like at my grandma's house and I'm just in my crib chilling, I had to figure out what I'm going to do.

Uh, and so, uh, Creativity was my first sort of intro into moving through boredom, which made me feel better, which at the time, I didn't know what that was, but looking back now, I'm like, man, that was me using a creative tool to help my mental health. Yeah, your boredom [00:02:00] was seeking imagination. Creativity is within that.

I don't know if I can, I don't know if I can pinpoint creativity like that. Like I, maybe it was because I was an only child for the first seven years. And I entertained myself and played with my dolls and all that. I feel like that's for most people, right? Created storylines. No, I mean, I don't know. What do you mean what's for most people?

I mean, I feel like most of us that had to be like a solo child in our space. Probably that, that had to be like our first introduction to. I think there's like no beginning and end in creativity for me. Like. It was infinite. Yeah, because it's kind of like, um.

Well, I was kind of talking the other day how we don't remember, like, learning to eat. We just, like, we're eating. I don't really remember, like, learning to be creative. I was just creative. That makes sense. And I always felt [00:03:00] most at home within myself when I was doing something creative. That makes sense.

That actually makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Because we are creative beings. And we come out of the, come out of the gate. Creative, honestly. Cause we were created. I mean, that's not what I would say, but it works as well.

It's important. We've, um, You know, we've, besides just being creative people, um, we have used it and recognized it as a mental health tool. So using creativity as a daily self care practice is something we adopted. Yeah. And, uh, for this episode, we did a lot of research just trying to, you know, see what was said about, uh, creativity, uh, and mental health.

One thing we found was, uh, there's a lot of studies about. The amount of people that [00:04:00] are have successful creative careers and have some sort of mental illness, uh, which is a bit different than what we're talking about today. Um, and so we had to kind of dig a little bit deeper and we did find quite a few psychiatrists and therapists that spoke on creative tools and activities to help improve mental health.

Uh, and Taylor, won't you, uh, let us know, uh, one of those. Yeah, those pieces of data said, uh, Dr. Kathy Malchioti Confirmed that being creative Can, and she's a psychologist and art therapist. She confirmed that being creative can increase positive emotions, lessen depressive episodes and symptoms, reduce stress, decrease anxiety, and even improve immune system functioning.

That's actually, that last one, the improved immune system functioning, it's, it's such a physical impact and, and those other ones are, yeah, yeah, uh, and so that one [00:05:00] really surprised me. Um, the, the, uh, depressing, what was it, lightened depressing, depressing moods or what was it? Uh, lessened depressive. Yeah.

Sometimes less than depressive symptoms. That was something right away that I knew, um, just because as a person that has, you know, in the past dealt with, um, you know, some, some mental health, uh, work, I don't know, a person that sometimes I feel really. weird about saying mental illness because I don't think it's all an illness.

I think our brains are all kind of designed differently and there is a common, there's a norm to how we function and sometimes the way your brain is designed doesn't always fit into that norms puzzle. Um, so I don't think it's a mental illness, but there's really not a better word for it. I know people say mental health overall, but I think there's like just mental design.

Ooh, I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so anyway, uh, the way that my mental design works, there's some times where I have [00:06:00] not felt, uh, like my chipper self. And so there has been creative activities that I've, I've been taught that have helped with that. Um, and so that one I knew right away, but I was unaware of the immune system stuff.

That's crazy. Yeah. It's so cool. Like, um, just the immune system thing real quick. Just the connection of the brain to the gut, which that's a whole topic, but the fact that creativity can impact that I was mind blown. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. The amount of stuff that the gut like connects to that, that deals with both mental and physical stuff.

It's like, I know you said it's a whole nother episode, but the gut is a, it's like a cheat code. Maybe if you, if you treat it, right. Yep. Yep. It's a whole biome that affects a whole lot. Yeah. Um, to continue with this data from this, uh, source, an additional study from the Journal of Positive [00:07:00] Psychology was done that supported these earlier findings and it concluded that spending time on creative goals during a day is associated with higher activated positive effect.

Yep. Yep. On that day, you want to know what positive effect is? Yeah. Yeah. It was different. Sorry. It's like affect effect. Affect is the extent to which people experience positive moods, such as joy, happiness, and optimism, higher, positive affect, lower stress, and expands our perspectives that we notice more possibilities in our lives.

Yeah. So basically if you do something creative in the day, you're more likely to have a better day. Yep, that's yep. I feel like we might have said that on like one or Five other episodes. Well, we definitely Talk about how we use creativity as a self care practice for sure [00:08:00] But to have the data to back it up to be like something very simple as being creative or doing a creative task coloring in a Book or something can really, truly, uh, science evidence based make your day better.

And on top of that, whether it be simple, my favorite part of it is how accessible it is. Uh, creativity is something that literally any one of us can do cause we're all born with it. And so it's, I think sometimes we look for these. Grandiose things that are going to help change how we feel in the moment.

And there's this built in thing that helps us almost eat, like quickly trigger a dopamine hit that allows us to feel better. Um, and it's something that is within you. That's cool. Uh, that's a, it's like a, it's like a safeguard that's built into our DNA. Literally something is [00:09:00] within you that. It can directly affect how you function and feel, and it's all within you.

It's um, a really cool, actually we talked about earlier how it's pretty magical. It is, it is, it is like real world magic. Mm hmm. And figure yourself as a sorcerer. Yeah. The magician. You got the sorcerer's stone right in your pocket. That's a Harry Potter reference for those that don't get it. Yeah. I hated on Harry Potter for so long.

Uh, random rant. Hated on Harry Potter for so long. Uh, and then one day I watched it and when I was like, Uh, as an adult, came out when I was a kid, watched it as an adult. Uh, and I was like, well, this is amazing. Well, it's, I was, well, I wasn't, yeah, I was, I was like in my, like, 18 or 19 twenties. I was like twenties.

So it was only a granted, you know, I turned 20 in [00:10:00] like 2000, like what, six or seven, seven, 2008, 2008, some, some, sometime around there I turned 20. So it's not like it was at six. Okay. So it wasn't like it was out for 20 years. It was out for like five years, but I just waited so long, but fire. So if you haven't seen it, binge it and it's on like HBO max or anywhere cause it's 20 years old.

Uh, watch him fire anyway. Back to this though. Um, yeah, no, I think it's really cool that that's magical sort of thing that exists within us that we can just call upon whenever we need to. Yeah. Um, So yeah, Harry Potter, cool stuff. Anyway, during our research, Super creative. During our research, there is a part that you came upon that spoke about grief.

And I think the way it touched you really stood out to me. So can you, uh, can [00:11:00] you speak on that? Yes, I can. So I came across this. The use of art can help a person who has experienced trauma overcome challenges and help them cope with negative emotions. Stuckey Noble. The use of crea The use of creativity provides the opportunity for people to express their thoughts, feelings, and emotions without the use of words.

And, um, Yeah, when I read that, it like, it, it took me back a bit because I definitely used creativity to move through a very tragic death of my best friend, um. And when I think back to the whole process, there was, there was so much creativity around it that helped get me through, like, even going to her wake, like, I, [00:12:00] like, I put on makeup, like, we would put on makeup together because that was, like, um, like, creativity that we shared.

Um, and I knew like, I don't know, I just knew she'd want me to do that. Yeah. Um, and I remember like, you know, trying to express this and like creating a video of like just the, this experience that was very traumatic, but I wanted to like kind of get it out and like release it. Right. Right. Um, and then like dancing, dancing through this song that just really connected to the moment.

So like it was through creativity. That I was able to, like, express the grief and, like, move through it and also, like, honor her and just try to go about my day. Yeah. You know? Yeah. But it just, it was a really strong,[00:13:00] 

it just was, it was very truthful for me. Nice. Like, using creativity to overcome grief and then, you know, the trauma part. Like sometimes we don't know how to speak about things, so like that part where it says expressing your thoughts and emotions without the use of words, like that is powerful enough to help.

Yeah, that's uh, that is powerful. Um, and that's really cool that you were able to use creativity to kind of help yourself through that process. Um, is there a piece of content that you created during that time that like you still to this day like look at and say that really captured what I was feeling or what I was going through in that moment?

Yeah. Um, we can link it too, but it was basically kind of like a reenactment of my emotions of like seeing her in the casket. And surprisingly it got like [00:14:00] a good amount of engagement, which was not like a goal. It was like, I just need to share this because I think maybe it would help other people too.

And yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Well, uh, there's the, the other piece of that, you know, shows what authentic content can do. Um, it's really when you, when you tell a story that's very true to you, um, and your audience feels that, um, They, they, they, um, accept it, uh, and, and that's, that's really what makes things sort of blossom or go viral a lot of times is this authenticity.

Um, so that's a good example of that in the moment. Um, yeah, I was trying to think of like, is, is there a moment like that for me? And I don't think there's one necessarily with grief, um, Um, but I think there are other things that I've moved through. Like I mentioned earlier, [00:15:00] um, depression, um, but I think about, oh, I talked about boredom.

Uh, but I think about how creativity has always been an emotional outlet for me and, and music Cool. The reason why I got into music, um, from a creator standpoint was because as a listener of music, I recognized how it made me feel. Um, I recognized how I could, you know, I was a, as a, as a kid, I, you know, I liked all kinds of music.

Uh, rock was something that I think really sort of touched me. Hip hop was, was, was my shit. without a doubt, but like rock had this, it's so funny when you go back and you listen to so many rock lyrics, they're very simpy. Um, there's a lot of songs that you don't realize are like about a woman and you're like this man screaming his heart out.

Um, and then you like find out what he's really about and it's cause his ex left him and I'm just like, Oh, well that seems real dramatic, but it's a way, it's a, it's a feeling and he lets it out. And [00:16:00] I just loved how I think Intense some of the lyrics could be um for the emotion that they were letting out and at the time when you're a teen and you're kind of angsty and you're kind of like going through stuff like you really want to Find ways to express that you can't you can't just go out and scream at people and or you can't just like, you know You can't be in the middle of the street screaming at the top of your lungs And there's different ways you go about that and for me There was a connection to rock music, to poetry, to hip hop beats, these elements that really touched me and resonated in different ways.

And they were able to make me feel different things, which I think was really, uh, you know, amazing. And so that is what sparked me becoming a musician was, I thought about how these, these

And I wanted to be able to, one, do it for [00:17:00] myself, uh, it was really creating music wasn't really about, Oh, I want to create music for other people. It was, I feel a certain way and I need to get this out. Yeah. That's an expression. Yeah. Uh, and then that translated to showing it to people and people being like, Oh, this song was good.

I like this. This made me feel this, or this made me think about this. And so then I was like, Oh, well, I People are getting something from the music. Let me continue doing that in, in putting it out to people. So that all stems from just personal expression. Yeah. That's, uh, that's why music therapy is a thing for sure.

Getting hit by those frequencies. Uh, yeah, actually the very notion of that, the frequency of music and feeling good and just sonic healing, um, got me into sound healing. Oh yeah. Um, Which is also a creative, like, self care practice as well. Um, but yeah, a lot of people will have, you know, they'll talk about like, oh, it's my outlet.

[00:18:00] And oftentimes these outlets to express ourselves are creative. And, um, you know, like, I don't know maybe maybe experiment like what explore like what is that for you? One of the things specifically we read talked about how I forget her name, which I'll have to link But she is this big Therapist that works with a lot of CEOs.

She works a lot of high high level clients, uh, that are celebrities and whatnot. But the thing that she excels in is art therapy. And she talks about how you have these left brain individuals that come to therapy to do these right brained activities. because it helps them move through the stress that they have through in their day to day, and it allows them to be able to go back to work in their day job and actually be able to feel like they can contribute at the highest level and accomplish the things they need to accomplish.

So I think that's really cool that you have these, these big, [00:19:00] People that are so, you know, practical in what they're doing be like, okay, well, for me to, for me to feel what I need to feel, I need to hit up my art therapist, go and do some sessions, really get in touch with how I feel creatively, come back to this practical situation and then I can, I can accomplish what I need to accomplish.

I think that's dope. Yeah. And really using creativity to explore, discover how they feel emotionally. So it doesn't, you know. Block them or get get stored in their body. They're able to like move through it through art and creativity. I like that Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So as Taylor said let us know some ways that you Can use creativity to help improve your mental health.

We'd love to hear about those things and maybe those are things we can incorporate Also, let us know like hit us up on social media. Let us know what you want to even Here about what should we talk about? What should we continue building upon in the world of creativity and [00:20:00] life? Um, and, and we just love to continue to build and grow with you all.

Yes. Um, that's what we're doing here. We're building a, uh, community and creative community, and, um, we're excited to watch it grow and we want you to be a part of it. So like subscribe, share, follow. And what's that last one? Review That's the one of the hour review review review Please and with that have a wonderful weekend.

We look forward to seeing you next week. Yes, we We do we do look forward to it. I don't know what that was