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One of my special interests is the relationship between existential depression and the creative personality. Because of my interest, I wrote The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person’s Path Through Depression, which appeared in hardback from Rodale in 2002 and in paperback from New World Library during the winter of 2007/2008.

Depression experts tend to define depression as a bio-psycho-social sort of thing, as a problem (to many of them, a disease) with roots that are sometimes more biological, sometimes more psychological, and sometimes more social (that is, rooted in isolation, a lack of social support, etc.) Rarely do they address existential depression: depression that arises because a person is having trouble making and maintaining meaning.

I believe that for creative people depression often represents a meaning crisis and that the help required is existential in nature. The treatment for existential depression is not antidepressants, talk therapy, or group support but a reinvestment of meaning in the individual’s life and in his or her creative efforts. I present a complete program for dealing with existential depression in The Van Gogh Blues. If depression is an issue for you, I recommend that you give my treatment plan some consideration.

Here are some review excerpts of The Van Gogh Blues:

“The Van Gogh Blues is a mind-blowingly wonderful book.”
     -- Midwest Book Review

“Caution: If you’re a creative person, then reading The Van Gogh Blues may be a painful experience. However, try to tough your way through it, because the benefits of successfully completing Maisel's program could mean a personal and professional renaissance for you.”
     -- MentalHelp.Net

“Effectively mixing academic research, his own thoughts, and the stories of artists, Maisel persuasively argues that creative individuals measure their happiness and success by how much meaning they create in their work. The Van Gogh Blues is useful for mental health professionals, artists, and art libraries.”
     -- Library Journal

“Maisel explores the creative person’s sometimes disheartening quest for meaning and suggests possible solutions to the personality weaknesses creative people are prone to. The Van Gogh Blues has helpful suggestions for artists and writers searching for encouragement and emotional respite.”
     -- Publishers Weekly

“The Van Gogh Blues provided me with one of those AHA! moments, helping me identify my problem as a lost sense of meaning. I’m still exploring the implications, and the possible solutions, including how to invest a sense of meaning back into my art and life. That single AHA! was more than worth the price of the book.”
     -- Mindtweaks.com

The following reader’s comment captures how many readers have reacted to encountering the material in The Van Gogh Blues:

“I stumbled upon The Van Gogh Blues in my local library about a year ago when I was going through a rough period. I devoured it. I've read it four or five times now. I'm thirty-nine years old and have suffered pretty awful bouts of depression since around age eighteen. No book that I have picked up in twenty years has spoken to me with such sense and clarity as The Van Gogh Blues has.”
     -- Mitchell in Australia

I will embark on a virtual book tour in support of the paperback appearance of The Van Gogh Blues, traveling from blog to blog, during January and February 2008. If you would like to follow the tour, here are the details.

To purchase The Van Gogh Blues