When Autumn arrived, my favourite season, I noticed that I was feeling the impact of world events… it’s very hard not too, with the ongoing wars in Gaza, Ukraine and civil unrest is much of northern Africa, the rise of dictator like behaviour with our ‘closest allies’ and the worsening impacts of climate change.
When I say feeling it, let me name it, I mean low level to rising levels of anxiety.
Having worked within sectors that focused on environmental issues, climate change and more recently social impact, I had developed a number of coping mechanisms, like avoiding the hourly news updates in favour of podcasts or long form articles where I could be immersed in an issue to truly understand it. But alas that wasn’t working.
I’ve written widely on how to enhance our creative advantage by exploring the mental and physical health, psychological and cognitive benefits of incorporating creative activities into our lives. The evidence from neuroscience also shows that creative engagement may even have a ‘neuroprotective’ effect contributing to maintaining cognitive capacity. 1
The research demonstrates that a focus on creative practices can enhance brain health and further an effective brain- body connection is integral to our higher order cognitive function and essential to maintain our ability to problem solve, stay motivated and explore more creative ways of being.
So I dived into my 2026 projects, research for a new book, large scale sculpture pieces for this year’s exhibiting, tending my garden plot and daily exercise. These have truly saved me.
So this got me wondering, could I reframe and consider if creativity can be used not just to feel good but as a tool to alleviate anxiety?
What is anxiety? “Anxiety” is a catch-all term that refers to a variety of disorders recognized by the medical profession. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is “a chronic state of severe worry and tension.” People with GAD struggle with excessive worrying, insomnia, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and more. Other types of anxiety disorders include panic disorder and social anxiety disorder. 2
Considering creativity in relation to anxious behaviour is not a new thing. There appears to be a number of trains of thinking.
Is there a link between feeling anxious and being creative?
Let’s start with this one. One theory expressed widely is that our mental health is related to our sensitivity levels and thus the level of creativity displayed by ‘creative types’ like artists, musicians and writers. Advocates further claim that the connection between feeling anxious and being creative is strongly related and can actually spark our creativity.3
This view sees anxiety as a source of inspiration and is usually followed by quoting many famous artists and writers who have used their anxiety to dig deeper, adding layers to make their work richer. It’s often been cited that both artists Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch, who famously painted the “The Scream,” suffered from mental health, anxiety and hallucinations throughout their lives.
There’s massive debate on the ‘we have to suffer for our art’ view within medical professionals noting that while it’s tempting to link mental health struggles and artistic temperament, the connection between mental illness and creativity is not proven.
Plus while a connection may exist between these two traits, one is not necessarily causing the other - correlation does not imply causation. There are plenty of people who are exceptionally creative who don’t battle anxiety or other mental health issues. 4
With the jury still out I've ended up concluding that the relationship between anxiety and creativity is complex. Some psychologists point to a growing body of research that suggests some aspects of individual creativity may have a relationship to mental illness. While others say these have been based on anecdotes, debunking the research as poorly executed and harmful to neurodivergence. 5
So in responding to the question of a direct link between anxiety and creativity, it appears to depend on what studies were being used to build their case.
Creativity as Therapy
Another view is more closely associated with a therapeutic approach, that is, to engage in creative activities can provide a way to process and express emotions that can be suppressed, or difficult to acknowledge and speak too.
So doing something creative provides a means to explore emotions and can make us feel better or safer, by using that anxious energy for something positive and self-reflective. This enables the anxiety to be channelled into creative outputs, and through the process, transform their relationship with anxiety.
Trained professionals note the need to master the balance between harnessing anxiety for creative purposes and preventing it from becoming overwhelming.
‘It requires mindfulness, self-awareness, and proactive strategies to ensure that anxiety fuels creativity without consuming it. This delicate equilibrium allows individuals to use their anxiety as a source of inspiration while maintaining their mental health and well-being.’ 6
In this article I'm not so much interested in labelling the source of our creativity, but more into considering how creative problem solving outlets can be utilised to reduce and cope with anxiety. What I am clear about is that creative people do think and execute exceptional problems solving skills. This may have its source in their professional training, their mental well-being state, genetics or accessing their imagination.
As my earlier writing in The Creative Advantage demonstrated, creativity is a skill that can be learnt and practiced, with studies showing that creativity is close to eighty percent learned and acquired. 7
Is Creativity an Antidote to Anxiety?
This question led me to a recently released book by sociologist and author Martha Beck. The premise of her book “ Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity and Finding Your Life’s Purpose” is that anxiety and creativity have an inverse relationship so when one is active the other is inactive.
She writes about her own experience with anxiety, and how she uses kind self-talk to calm herself, and her clients. This lead further into exploring how creative activities become her anchor. The shift into a curious mindset, lead to creative exploration and a closing down of the anxiety.
I note that she acknowledges that typically we think of creativity as painting, dancing, writing but it can also include everything we do like parenting, participating in science, leading a team and having conversations.
'.. creativity is our only way of solving problems that are, like many issues facing our species in the twenty first century, completely unprecedented’. 8
She outlines the elements of the anxiety spiral, an unfamiliar event causes an impulse from the left amygdala, which causes other brain structures to create control strategies and scary stories, which feedback to and add more fear, creating a spiral. It can keep us scared, stuck, narrowing our minds and continually responding to the unfamiliar with fear.
But she notes that when we experience something unfamiliar, the creativity spiral also begins in the amygdala. If we are not in danger, we don’t move to control it, and we can respond with more inquiry and curiosity. We can connect to the experience and become more comfortable in the extended comfort zone, introducing more unfamiliar experiences to help is feel more confident until we feel safe. 9
‘Somewhere between indifference and terror
lies the sweet spot of curiosity’.
10
“Once you begin turning your interest curiosity, opening the secret door way between worry and wonder over and over, you’ll find the door starts to work more smoothly… the neural pathways that abandon anxiety to go exploring will grow more abundant. …Then curiosity may begin to eclipse anxiety entirely.” 11
So what might be the next steps to swapping anxiety for creativity?
To start with, just follow your curiosity, things that you are pulled towards and create a ragbag of ideas that interest you, that help you become more playful, and that you want to focus on.
Consider a more ‘hands-on’ experience through art practices that enable us to express ourselves creatively. There’s been a growth in studies that quantify the mental health and overall well-being benefits of creative practices. Engaging in creative activities has been attributed to improving rates of depression, reducing the body’s response to stress, assisting with cognitive decline, boosting the immune system to an increase in happiness.
The evidence shows how arts-based approaches can help people stay well, recover faster, manage their long-term health conditions and experience a better quality of life overall, and for me, reduce my anxiety as I engage in world affairs.
A Reminder....
The Significance of Everyday Creativity
This may be art, but it doesn’t have to be. In “The Creative Advantage Life Cycle Enhance your creativity throughout all stages of your life”, I introduce the concept of everyday creativity and consider how we might shape and realise our vision for a life well lived and what role creativity can play in this.
Everyday creativity is about personal creativity and is central to our way of life. While it’s expressed as little-c creativity, it doesn’t exclude Big-C creativity that we might undertake like writing a novel, contributing to a large social issue or launching the next disruptive social enterprise. In many ways it’s equally as important to Big-C creativity as it might lead to discoveries where we bring novel, original and relevant ideas into action.
Many things we do each day appear common and uneventful. Dr Ruth Richards, psychologist and psychiatrist, reminds us that creativity is as much about how we do it (the process) as it is about what we do (the product). She believes we can live better lives by being consciously creative when we undertake these seemingly uneventful everyday tasks.
Everyday creativity is not about the trivia of life. It’s about things that might lead to a discovery from where a more important accomplishment can grow. In pursuing a creative life every day, we can explore new possibilities and self-expression as a way of being, and experimentation as a style of existing. 12
A few references to consider:
Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity and Finding Your Life’s Purpose, Martha Beck 2025
Blog Posts:
The Originality of Everyday Creativity and how it can optimise our health and wellbeing
https://www.thecreativecatalyst.com.au/blog/the-originality-of-everyday-creativity
How the arts are changing the way we understand health and mental wellbeing -New revised handout
Note:
A special mention to Jocelyn Glei’s newsletter for pointing me to Martha Beck’s book. Her newsletter is a must with reflections to navigate your brain, your work, and the world with more lightness and grace. Available on Substack
2. Anxiety
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/living-neurodivergence/202403/how-anxiety-harms-creativity-and-what-to-do-about it#:~:text=Anxiety%20can%20make%20it%20difficult%20to%20be,*%20**Being%20trapped%20in%20a%20vicious%20cycle**
3. https://www.reliantpsychiatry.com/anxiety-disorder/the-connection-between-anxiety-and-creativity/
4. https://www.parent.com/blogs/conversations/2023-understanding-fascinating-link-anxiety-creativity-kids-sake
5. https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/living-neurodivergence/202403/how-anxiety-harms-creativity-and-what-to-do-about-it#:~:text=Anxiety%20can%20make%20it%20difficult%20to%20be,*%20**Being%20trapped%20in%20a%20vicious%20cycle**
6. https://www.reliantpsychiatry.com/anxiety-disorder/the-connection-between-anxiety-and-creativity/
7. Linkner, J (2011) Disciplined Dreaming: A proven system to drive breakthrough creativity. USA, Jossey-Bass, 28. Quote attributed to Hal Gregersen, Professor at INSEAD business school.
8. Beck, M (2025) “ Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity and Finding Your Life’s Purpose. USA, Piatkus, 110
9. Beck, M (2025) “ Beyond Anxiety” 116- 118
10. Beck, M (2025) “ Beyond Anxiety” 135
11. Beck, M (2025) “ Beyond Anxiety” 152
12. Kaufman, S.B. The creative life and well-being. Scientific American, March 2015. Retrieved from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-creative-life-and-well-being/,