مطالعه موردی از اختلال شخصیت و خلاقیت

Anaïs Nin, diarist and author of autobiographical novellas and erotica, and gregarious socialite, was known for her exotic persona and stormy personal life. The concept of personality disorder and the underlying assumption of the buffering capacity that personality affords to stressors are discussed. Against this background, evidence drawn from Nin’s diaries, short stories and two biographies suggests that she conformed to the diagnostic criteria of histrionic personality disorder (HPD), with comorbid borderline and narcissistic features, and numerous Axis I symptoms. The proposed origin of the overall dysfunctional histrionic pattern is attributed to her early developmental history, and the maladaptive cognitive mechanisms of dissociation and repression inferred from her writings and shown to conform to the HPD pattern. Finally, it is argued that while Nin may not have displayed the classic divergent cognitive style thought to underlie the association between schizotypy and creativity, her HPD psychopathology was pivotal in shaping her creative products, most famous of which is her diary.

of literature dedicated to their life and work, it may be possible to reconstruct accurate and detailed accounts of their behaviour patterns and psychological profile. Few such figures continue to puzzle audiences and inspire such diverse reactions as Anaïs Nin. Famous for her 35,000-page diary spanning more than 40 years of her life and the erotic novels and short stories that she drew from it, she was also infamous for her promiscuity, stormy personal life, and dramatic persona. Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell was born in Neuilly, France, in 1903 to Rosa Culmell, daughter of a rich Cuban family, and Joaquin Nin, a young Spanish composer and pianist. The family returned to Cuba in 1905, where Nin’s upbringing was shared between her mother and aunts, and then left again for Europe where her father performed. After J. Nin left his wife and three children for a young heiress, the family moved to New York in 1914, where life was by no means comfortable. It is at that time that the diary emerged which became a repository for her thoughts and ultimately a collection of psychological rather than factual truths. She enrolled for English composition and Intermediate French at Columbia University in 1921, and married Hugo Guiler, a young banker, in 1923. A few years later, the couple moved to Paris where Nin embarked on the life for which she became infamous: her numerous adulterous relationships, including the notable affair with Henry Miller, the incestuous reunion with her father, and the writing of erotica. The couple moved back to America, where Nin continued her promiscuous lifestyle and later illegally married Rupert Pole, 15 years her junior, balancing between a knowing but willingly blind husband in New York and an oblivious lover in San Francisco on what she called the ‘bicoastal trapeze’. Her work achieved critical acclaim much later, around the mid ‘60s, with the publication of her diaries and novels. She died of cancer in 1977. Nin – a gifted writer and a pioneer in the genre of autobiography and the history of the women’s movement – undoubtedly possessed of natural talent and artistic flair. Her prolific literary output was influenced by surrealism and psychoanalytic theory, and is characterised by powerful imagery and raw accounts of the psychological experience of femininity. Alongside her indisputable literary acclaim Nin’s turbulent personal life suggests that beneath the artistic persona lay a neurotic and troubled individual, rife with indicators of psychopathology, for which her diaries and other writing served as expressive outlets. Thus, her life and work represent that fascinating coincidence of artistic creativity and psychopathology which has historically been the focus of speculation and debate by philosophers, historians, psychiatrists and psychologists. Creativity, especially in the realm of art rather than science, is associated with personality traits of non-conformism, independence, novelty and sensation seeking (Eysenck, 1995), as well as psychopathological symptoms (Ludwig, 1995 and Ludwig, 1998), which may fall short of clear pathology (Barron, 1963 and Eysenck, 1995), but conspires nonetheless to support the notion that deviant personality and unconventional behaviour accompany exceptional innovative activity and creativity. In the case of writers personality disturbance and depression have been found to be particularly prevalent compared to other artists (Post, 1994 and Post, 1996). Most historiometric research systematically investigates the lives of famous artistic individuals for indications of psychopathological symptoms and relies on their published biographies to draw inferences on the basis of documented actions and events. However, constructing a psychological profile for Anaïs Nin and attempting to understand and evaluate her cognitive, emotional and interpersonal functioning benefit significantly from the nature of her work: her medium was the written word and, in particular, it is her personal diary, spanning most of her adult life, which represents her most significant contribution to literature. This diary grants access to intimate thoughts about herself and significant others, and consequently some insight into her innermost psychological world. Despite never actually admitting to rewriting or editing the diary, it is established that the 7 of the 150 volumes that have seen publication are the end products of extensive, meticulous and creative transcription which Nin carried out throughout her life. While the diary represents a fusion of psychological reality and literary expression, excerpts from the Early Diaries (Vols. 1–4) (Nin, 1978, Nin, 1982, Nin, 1983 and Nin, 1985), and three volumes of the later diaries (Nin, 1966a, Nin, 1967 and Nin, 1992) will be analysed and presented throughout this discussion for their psychological and emotional content. Biographical information and excerpts from interviews with Nin’s contemporaries will also be drawn from two different published sources (Bair, 1995 and Fitch, 1994). It is acknowledged that such an exercise is necessarily speculative. Nevertheless, it will be argued here that, taken together, the sources consulted suggest that many of the features of Nin’s affectivity, cognitive style, and behaviour were clinically abnormal. In particular, the thesis advanced here is that Nin most likely met many of the diagnostic criteria for histrionic personality disorder (HPD), with indications of comorbid borderline and narcissistic personality features, with symptoms of depression, all as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( American Psychiatric Association, [DSM-IV-TR], 2000). The role and influence of these psychopathological features on her creativity and literary output will then be explored.