Music, Creativity, and Mental Health: William Fitzsimmons

In this Music, Creativitiy, and Mental Health I had the honour of talking with musician, singer and songwriter William Fitzsimmons. In a wide-ranging and insightful discussion topics covered include: the relationship between severe mental health issues and addiction and creativity or (the myth of the tortured artist); deep suffering as a normal part of life that provides stimulus and content for creative communication; the joyfulness of the creative process; creativity as time, experimentation and process, not ‘magic’; the role of egolessness and intrinsic motivation in creativity; the ways that the culture of the music industry burns people out; the healthy drive for perfection or the ‘creative chase’; the central role of intuition; music as therapeutic pointing; and the centrality of communicating feelings and emotions in music. I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.