Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

This essay uses the personal experiences of a renowned artist, whose character was loved for her quirky outgoing nature but her reality was much darker from what viewers saw on screen, in order to examine the connection between creativity and mental health. The gravity and prevalence of the entertainment industry’s problems of discrimination, abuse, and bullying are too often swept under the rug or forgotten when the media moves on to the next big ‘scandal.’ These problems not only affect victims and their immediate communities, but audiences and communities worldwide, who in turn become victims themselves to the industry’s manipulation. With the lasting impact of the Me Too movement, as well as recovering from the global pandemic, public discussions surrounding mental health have seen a significant increase. As a result, a number of artists have opened up online and publicly about their own struggles with mental illness—including Jennette McCurdy in her recently published biography “I’m Glad My Mom Died”. In her book, McCurdy gives the reader an in-depth look into her relationship with her deeply abusive mother, the dark-side of the entertainment industry, and her journey in finding mental peace. Although the seedy underbelly of the entertainment industry is not entirely unknown, it undoubtedly plays a large role in the prevalence of mental illness among creatives and artists. As we can see through “I’m Glad My Mom Died”, and when properly used, creativity can lead to a significant increase in the understanding of and coping with trauma and mental illness.