“EMBRACING MENTAL SKILLNESS”
Entertainer Joshua Walters is a comedian. Comedians as we know, have a certain “edge” to their personalities. Uncannily, at times, it seems they view the world with such a different perspective one wonders what particular brain function they have that sets them apart from the rest of us. Quick witted, streaming consciousness, brain synapses’ travelling at the speed of light. From thought to speech quicker than you can say Red Skelton. Or Robin Williams. Likewise any comedian who can reach into the most inner recesses of your primal instincts and activate whatever it is in our human genetic make-up that makes us want to laugh. Some children and adults who are quick thinkers, loose tongued or physically hyperactive like some slapstick comedians are often considered mentally ill. They get profiled as having Attention Deficit Disorder, for example, the class clown who demands attention. Rebels. Can’t adhere to authoritarian “rules”. Perhaps a person who is bipolar may be in the midst of a manic episode and create a magnificent work of art. Vincent Van Gogh was bipolar. Joshua Walters is bipolar. His video blog on TED.com is his story. He makes fun of his struggle with mental illness as a way to entertain and educate. Who has never laughed at an uncomfortable subject when presented in a humorous manner? Joshua embraces what he defines as “mental skillness”. Throughout history there have been stories of great writers, artists, government officials (i.e., Napoleon Bonaparte) who in this ‘modern’ age would have been diagnosed as mentally ill. Joshua mentions that during high school he slept through it all. His prescribed medications affected him this way. If the reader has never seen the movie “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” with actor Jack Nicholson, I recommend it. Joshua stopped taking the medications and decided to turn to comedy to entertain and educate the world about manic depression. He mentions some books relevant to this subject: John Gartner’s, “The Hypomanic Edge” and “Touch With Fire” by Kay Jamison, a book about manic-depressive artists in history. He makes comments that entrepreneurs are specifically starting to embrace individuals who fall into the “be manic enough” spectrum due to their vitality, productivity and edgy creative aspects. His philosophy is that: “There is no such thing as crazy. They are individuals who “are more sensitive to what most people can’t see or feel”. I found this to be an inspiring blog because I know people who are extremely creative and sometimes have been labeled by their families as “crazy”. Actors and actresses, due to the nature of their business, become other people, animals or whatever their roles demand. Some may truly be schizophrenic and “become” that role off of the film set with disastrous results. Such as the rumors that actor Heath Ledger engrossed himself so far into the Joker role in the Batman movie it supposedly affected his mental health. Personally, I enjoy Joshua’s outlook of “embracing mental skillness”. As an active participant in the entertainment industry myself I believe this is an interesting topic that deserves further research.
“The answer lies in our genes, according to psychologist John Gartner. Hypomania, a genetically based form of mild mania, endows...”
Www.hypomanicedge.com ·
BARNES & NOBLE | Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and ... “The anguished, volatile we associate with the artistic temperament, often described as "a fine madness," has been thought of as a defining aspect of much artistic genius. Now, Kay Jamison's brilliant work, based on years of studies as a clinical psychologist....
