The struggles of a creative
If you're a creative person in therapy, you may recognize some common threads in your experience: struggles that can feel unique to the creative life and hard for others to fully understand. I've noticed these themes in the clients I work with in creative fields, and in myself, having navigated my own path as a musician for many years. That lack of understanding from others can leave you feeling isolated in what you're going through, which can make the challenges themselves even harder to carry.
The Stressors
Many, if not all, creatives face stressors beyond their control due to external circumstances. Current shifts in the industry, the use of Artificial Intelligence, and the struggle to earn a living amid rising costs are just some of the major stressors that can interfere with a creative's ability to engage in their art and threaten the very identity they've built around it. These stressors can put creatives in a constant fight-or-flight state of survival, which can unfortunately affect their mental and physical health in detrimental ways. When your art and your livelihood are the same thing, the very real fears of uncertainty become obstacles not just to safety and balance, but to a sense of who you are.
Sensitivity
As creatives tend to be highly sensitive individuals, life can be even more taxing to navigate. Sensitivity is too often misread as a flaw, which only deepens the isolation and misunderstanding you may already feel. Yet according to the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, creativity is one of the ways we know we're in "Self" energy: the seat of confidence, clarity, and calm. Highly sensitive creatives often see and feel the world with unusual depth: the pull of a building's architecture, the ache of a violin concerto, the intensity carried in an actor's performance. This sensitivity isn't a liability - it may be a superpower, a deep expression of what it means to be human. In the turbulence of current times, I believe we need it more than ever.
Pressure
But every superpower comes with drawbacks. Creatives can push themselves past overwhelm and into harm. Systemic pressures - the need to master marketing, networking, and business alongside craft - can crowd out the very art you set out to make in the first place. Clients often tell me, almost in disbelief, that they aren't spending any time on their art at all. The competitive, saturated nature of many creative fields sends a clear message: you have to be the "best" just to survive. That pressure breeds comparison, and comparison breeds resentment, depression, anxiety, burnout. Fear and constant pressure are poison to creativity - they crowd out the curiosity, playfulness, and exploration that original expression depends on.
Identity
As pressure builds, creatives often struggle with their own identity.
"If I am not a professional or achieving more, am I even allowed to view myself as an artist?"
"Does my creative identity even count if I'm not 'good enough'?"
"If I am not a creative person, then what am I?"
"I'm spending all my time trying to survive in the industry - I'm not even being creative anymore."
Questions like these can spiral into existential crisis, taking a toll on your mental and physical well-being. As complex and nuanced human beings, when we identify too strongly with just one part of ourselves, we grow rigid, and that rigidity leaves us more vulnerable to collapse when things don't go as expected.
So how do we find self-worth?
In IFS (Internal Family Systems) work, sessions can help clients build relationships to the various parts of their system and learn how to access more of their Self energy. The Self is where we can feel most connected with our authenticity. In NARM, we support clients in reinforcing their agency to relate to themselves in ways that don’t depend on external validation.
Start IFS and NARM therapy for creatives in-person or virtually in Highland Park and Los Angeles
Therapy can be a place for clients to explore ways to strengthen their sense of self-worth, regardless of what is outside their control. When we find ways to move away from the confines of self-pressure, I wonder what space opens up for the creativity in each of us. Reach out to schedule a free consultation.
Other Services Offered at Therapy on Fig
At Therapy on Fig, we provide therapy services tailored to the unique needs of couples, adults, and teens. We offer Neurodivergent Affirming Therapy, IFS Therapy, Therapy for Empaths, Trauma Therapy, Couples Therapy, Teen Therapy, ADHD Therapy, Group Therapy, Therapy for Entrepreneurs, Anxiety Therapy, Therapy for Autistic People, Depression Therapy, Premarital Counseling, LGBTQ Affirming Therapy, and CPTSD Therapy. Whether you're seeking support for a specific issue or looking to strengthen your relationship overall, our therapists are here to help. Reach out today to learn more about our services!
Michael Hung is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist #154058, supervised by Phillip Chang, LCSW #92156. He is trained in Internal Family Systems (Level 1) and in modalities rooted in a somatically based, trauma-informed approach, such as the Neuroaffective Relational Model (Level 2), Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO), and the Gottman Method.