In Sex, Drugs, and Creativity: The Search for Magic in a Disenchanted World, Kahoud and Knafo take a close look at omnipotent fantasies in three domains: sex, drugs, and creativity. They demonstrate how these fantasies emerge and how artists draw on them both to create and destroy—sometimes simultaneously. Understanding this can help psychoanalysts work more effectively with these individuals.
Key Features
- Explores the relationship between creativity and substance use.
- Examines the omnipotence of self-destruction in creative artists.
- Includes personal statements from influential artists and entertainers.
- Features case studies, including one on successful clinical work with a creative substance user.
Additional Information
The authors argue that creative artists use omnipotent fantasies to imagine the world differently, enabling them to produce their art, but leaving them vulnerable to addiction. Chapters devoted to Stephen King and Anne Sexton illustrate how these authors used drugs and alcohol to fuel imagination and inspire creative output while simultaneously doing harm to themselves. Sex, Drugs, and Creativity will appeal to anyone interested in the links between creativity and substance use, and will be of great use to psychoanalysts and mental health practitioners working with these challenging clients.
