I tend to split the artistic process into two or three chunks, the muse (inspiration), the pull (the need to actually do something) and the execution (getting it done).

My experience is that depression can reduce the muse and the pull. Execution can be difficult.

Hypomania may increase the muse and sometimes the pull inappropriately (like I should be working but I'm writing a novel) but often messes with the execution.

I have more or less kept going for 30 years, with breaks down to depression. Music produced when hypomanic wasn't quite right.

Conversely I write alot when I am hypomanic and it is amusing..but I see my music as a lot more important.

I've seen a number of studies re lithium, most are small and the results are mixed. Some artists do less on lithium, some the same and some more.

It looks as if it is an individual thing.

I would stress that my personal measure would be to produce a work that is acceptable and original, not have alot of ideas you don't get around to finishing.

Depakote was my artistic soul taker but tegretol is soooooooo different but l am on a lower dose l didn't work because l couldn't what l did produce was boring and not me l lost something its only just slowly coming back....

fish... i could use a muse... not asking, just acknowledging it is important. (i actually spelled acknowledging right the first time, huh?)

i had a fit once where i cut up a painting i was doing, h kept hovering and telling me how to do my work, it was a wave. he is a surfer. suppose he had the right. i had enough so i cut it with a knife into quarters... there, theres the effin wave.

he leaves me alone now with my work. that is a plus, he encourages me to paint.

i have pull constantly

i have many ideas stored up in the noggin, too many. they need to be unleashed!

rofl execution...

I havnt took a photograph since been on medication. im not sure why.. meh!

l had to force myself Katie, l didn't enjoy it while l was out but you have to not give up try carrying one with you all the time sooner or later you'll use it

Does this apply to musical artist also? Because I could not pick up an instrument for over a year. Since recent med change I have felt more musical.

I have a notebook for ideas. I often have technical ideas at night so I write them down. Those often don't really result in much.

I'm usually working on about 2 pieces at one time..generally I have a number of sketches, I dread to think how many..but if I don't have the muse I go through the sketches and select one to work on.

i posted something similar a few weeks ago. i'm an actor and writer by profession and being on medications make me less creative. i feel like i'm unable to be as creative as i used to be, or like you put it, i feel like the inner muse packed up and left. to add insult to injury, i suffer from memory loss as well and very poor memory due to the medications. i feel somewhat subdued.

i'd say stay with the medications, but do ask the doctor to see if you could toggle with the medications and dosages to help retain balance while getting your creative side going.

my fiance constantly encourages me to read or to work on arts and craft etc to boost my creativity. he says i should think that even normal people can be creative, if they nurture that talent.

yea bc sometimes the meds make it difficult to feel or think (i call this dead space mode) and as aldous huxley put it "perhaps its good for one to suffer. Can an artist so anything if he/she is happy? Would they ever want to do anything? What is art afterall, but a protest against the horrible inclemency of life? "

I have always felt driven to express myself sort of like pain when I am off the meds. The poetry is much more vivid yes, and the detail is more inspiring, but the pain that it took to produce the art and poetry was painful for me. I am much happier on the meds than off of them even if I am not producing the same award winning poetry like before. Sometimes I miss it, but I wouldn't go back to it no matter the enticement. So I ignore the letters and simply go on with my life as I have chosen to be. It was hard at first, but I am happy that I made the decision finally and I can still write, I just don't pour my soul into it like I used to. I use my soul to live instead.