Rita Baldarelli is slowly pacing in her room. Her breathing is deepened, slowed and calmed as she takes an increased interest in her fingers, focusing on the small things, proving to herself that she exists. She will not allow anybody to touch her. Her anxiety disorder leads her paint brush to a stark white canvas. Across campus, Julia Morris is playing the piano, all the notes are staccato and blaringly loud. She says that the Vyvanse that she takes for her ADHD makes her angry. To her, music is a release from the disorder that racks her brain. Baldarelli and Morris both suffer from mental disorders and both use art to cope with the symptoms. These girls are part of the growing trend among mental disorder sufferers of using artistic
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“I have inattentive ADHD, which means that I can’t filter stimuli out. Music helps because it uses my whole brain,” Morris said. Some psychologists have scientifically verified Morris’ claim. Helen Nieves, a Certified Attention Deficit Consultant Specialist, says that “Music works by releasing dopamine to a higher level than one may have thus helping you to concentrate more. Music also helps provide structure which is soothing to an ADHD brain struggling to regulate itself.” Morris says that “because I can’t filter any stimuli out, I have to focus on the piece of music as a whole. Some people can just focus on one aspect, one line, but I focus on the whole thing, which makes me really good in groups.” Like Morris, some famous musicians also have ADHD. This list includes Justin Timberlake, will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas, and Adam Levine of Maroon 5.
Morris adds that “the negative stigma of ADHD has hindered me more than the ADHD itself. ADHD gives me a unique world view, which helps my art because I see things differently. It’s like a super power. I’m not bound to a certain path of thinking. I can make connections that other people can’t.” In fact, because sufferers of ADHD tend to lose focus easily, they make odd associations between objects, words, and ideas. Morris says that this helps her to make interesting …show more content…
Morris adds that “sometimes you make something and you don’t even realize that you feel that way.” Baldarelli continues, “a lot of times, art is just the background noise in your head that haven’t really thought about.” This notion seems self-evident to the artist: to express yourself within the purity of art will help you understand the parts of the subconscious that the conscious mind does not vocalize and cannot easily comprehend. Tim Lomas, lecturer in positive psychology at the University of East London, writes that “the ‘effort after meaning’ theory holds that the reward of viewing art stems precisely from the act of trying to interpret and decode it. The potential for sense-making is perhaps even stronger in self-created art. This is a key premise of art therapy, in which art creation is used to help people process distress (e.g., trauma), and perhaps to even find some meaning in their suffering. This mode of self-exploration is particularly valuable for people who may struggle to express themselves in language, such as older adults with
“I have inattentive ADHD, which means that I can’t filter stimuli out. Music helps because it uses my whole brain,” Morris said. Some psychologists have scientifically verified Morris’ claim. Helen Nieves, a Certified Attention Deficit Consultant Specialist, says that “Music works by releasing dopamine to a higher level than one may have thus helping you to concentrate more. Music also helps provide structure which is soothing to an ADHD brain struggling to regulate itself.” Morris says that “because I can’t filter any stimuli out, I have to focus on the piece of music as a whole. Some people can just focus on one aspect, one line, but I focus on the whole thing, which makes me really good in groups.” Like Morris, some famous musicians also have ADHD. This list includes Justin Timberlake, will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas, and Adam Levine of Maroon 5.
Morris adds that “the negative stigma of ADHD has hindered me more than the ADHD itself. ADHD gives me a unique world view, which helps my art because I see things differently. It’s like a super power. I’m not bound to a certain path of thinking. I can make connections that other people can’t.” In fact, because sufferers of ADHD tend to lose focus easily, they make odd associations between objects, words, and ideas. Morris says that this helps her to make interesting …show more content…
Morris adds that “sometimes you make something and you don’t even realize that you feel that way.” Baldarelli continues, “a lot of times, art is just the background noise in your head that haven’t really thought about.” This notion seems self-evident to the artist: to express yourself within the purity of art will help you understand the parts of the subconscious that the conscious mind does not vocalize and cannot easily comprehend. Tim Lomas, lecturer in positive psychology at the University of East London, writes that “the ‘effort after meaning’ theory holds that the reward of viewing art stems precisely from the act of trying to interpret and decode it. The potential for sense-making is perhaps even stronger in self-created art. This is a key premise of art therapy, in which art creation is used to help people process distress (e.g., trauma), and perhaps to even find some meaning in their suffering. This mode of self-exploration is particularly valuable for people who may struggle to express themselves in language, such as older adults with