Hmm… I think the whole idea of drugs and alcohol while painting or making music is that it might cause you to make different decisions than if you weren’t under the influence. And that I see as not true creativity. People think creativity is just thinking differently, but it’s really not. It is drawing on your influences, and creating something original (but probably not fully original, since you have been influenced by things in your life).
When I used weed I would make tons of good drawings but I think it might have been because of the mania that it caused. When I used it for my comics stories it was a hit or miss though. Alcohol didn’t make me creative at all.
F. Scott Fitzgerald thought alcohol had an beneficial effect on his writing, but I don’t know, maybe he would have written better if he didn’t drink. He died a miserable, broken man. Edgar Allen Poe did opium, and the effect of that drug was evident in his work, which is still read and published today. Coleridge also did opium, and you can see the effect of that in his work. The drugs and alcohol destroyed all three of these men. Poe died on the street, completely alone. It had to be a rough way to go.
I think the other thing pertinent for our community is that sz doesn’t make you anymore creative either. From reading this and just an opinion.
Wasn’t Stephen King on drugs during his early years? Must have been scary highs!
Correct, I think he abused cocaine and alcohol. He’s sober now though.
The Beatles used to record songs while they were stoned. Both Ringo and George said every time they made music while high it was crap and they had to re-record when they were sober.
I don’t believe I could be creative in any way if I was under the influence of alcohol(alcoholic for 20 years) or drugs(never used drugs so I don’t know).
Stephen King is one of the foremost writers in the world, and he used a huge cocktail of drugs to get there. While most people use one or perhaps two drugs, King used cocaine, Xanax, Valium, NyQuil, beer, tobacco, and marijuana to get him through the day. His family eventually staged an intervention, dumping all the evidence of his addiction in front of him. He would later say that he doesn’t even remember writing some of his books; he was that much off his face.
Maybe it’s the other way around, if you are an artist, you might have a certain psychological profile, a vulnerability, that makes you take drugs and alcohol. The creativity springs from this personality, the drugs and alcohol are just a sad consequence.
I’m a bit surprised (right or wrong), at these findings.
My neighbor is an artist.
A legit artist that sells paintings regularly.
She was showing me some old paintings and one super stuck out to me.
Difficult to describe, but very different from her other works.
Very unique and different.
I asked her about it and she rolled her eyes.
She told me she ate some candies her son had brought home and went to paint.
Her son kept coming in to check on her and she didn’t understand why.
She decided to paint these unique paintings because she felt “musical”.
They are undeniably her best work.
Years later her son admitted, as an adult, there was weed in the candies.
I think drugs and alcohol take away anxiety and allow you to think more freely. I’m not sure I agree with this study. I don’t think it makes you any better. But you definitely think differently. I don’t think it will make a non creative person creative.
i think its kinda like dancing while your drunk. You feel alot cooler then ya look 
If tobacco is consideret a drug. Then I’ve been on drugs most of my life.
I needed drugs and alcohol to relax too, and the other day I was thinking that I wished I had an unlimited supply of morphine so I could finish off my life as a morphine addict. Maybe I would be more prolific in my writing if I did that. I wanted morphine because it isn’t quite as addictive as heroin. That’s probably a stupid way to think. Any kind of addiction is going to turn around and bite you on the ass. Ken Kesey, the guy who wrote “One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest” was one of those who tried to expand his mind by using acid, and he wrote two very good books. But you never know, he might have written twenty very good books if he didn’t do acid.
I’m closing as it’s not really staying recovery oriented.