Are there any serious theories as to why so many well-known writers in the English language are also alcoholics?

trans991

I know that alcoholism can be a form of self-medication. A professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa, Nancy J. Andreasen, did a 15-year study of 30 writers looking for a link between schizophrenia and creativity. She didn't find it, but she did find that 80% of her subjects had had an episode of "affective disorders" (depression, manic-depression etc.)compared with 30% in the control group. Also 30% of those studied were alcoholics compared with only 7% in a control group of nonwriters. Another theory from Dr. Anita Stevens is that writers work alone and isolation leads to alcohol abuse. It seems there are a couple of theories but no hard evidence to support them. http://www.unhooked.com/sep/writers.htm 1 vote. Jul 31 09, 1:06 PM

looney_tunes

It is not only writers - musicians also often self-medicate with alcohol. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/28/classical-music-and-opera-drugs-alcohol It has been suggested that many people with the sensibility that makes them creative artists are likely to experience greater stress as the result of 'everyday' life experiences than is the norm, and be more likely either to self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs, or to be diagnosed with a depressive illness. http://mv.lycaeum.org/M2/creativ2.html Jul 31 09, 5:09 PM