DISSERTATION WRITING: A PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE OR AN INTELLECTUAL EXERCISE?
A DISCUSSION PAPER ON CHRIS FLEMING’S “DISEASE OF THE THESIS”
by Marie Kathleen C. Santos
As mentioned by chris fleming, fraud paranoia is a mental disorder of conceited packaging of oneself. We are often drowned in the ocean of perfectionism since we are in the graduate school where everyone expects that we are already a connoisseur of our chosen field. A typical graduate student tends to set unrealistic expectations to himself, and self-criticism before he even get started writing. It is naturally very hard to begin and finish something that we have decided is going to be nothing less than perfect. The goals are too great and too obscure, and we often give up working on our task unless we have a timeless deadline.
As a solution for this hoax obsession he further elaborated that we find ourselves on top of a mountain of books, in quest of finding all the information we needed to maintain our deceitful figure. However, instead of acquiring the facts we need and gaining genuine wisdom we are locked in the maze of nothingness, clueless of the true purpose of being an authority.
Sustaining the author’s claim, there have been numerous studies in the past century examining the "mad genius" phenomenon, the most impressive of these studies conducted in 1987 by Nancy C. Andreasen (6). Conducting her studies at the infamous center for creative writing, The University of Iowa Workshops, Andreasen examined 30 writers and found that 80% had experienced at least one episode of major depression, hypomania, or mania. Andreasen also examined 30 controls and found that 0% had experienced some form of mental disorder (6). It was also found that there was a higher prevalence of mental disorder and creativity in the writer's first degree relatives compared to that of the control, suggesting that "mad genius" might be a genetically heritably trait (6).
It appears that the most common mental disorder amongst creative thinkers is bipolar disorder. This illness is characterized by four stages: major depressive, mixed, hypomanic, and manic episodes (5). During major depressive and mixed, the patient usually suffers from apathy, lack of energy, hopelessness, sleep disturbance, and slowed thinking (3). In the episodes of hypomania and mania, the mood is generally elevated, activity and energy levels increase, the need for sleep decreases, and speech is often rapid and excitable.
These observations led to some interesting questions: Does creativity cause bipolar disorder? Does the type of creativity matter? Psychiatrist Albert Rothenberg argues that there isn't a link and, in fact, because mental illness disrupts the cognitive and emotional processes necessary for creative thinking, highly creative people do better when they are treated for their mental illnesses (1). In direct opposition to this argument is HimaBindu Krishna's assertion that drug treatment often subjugates the creativity in the patient (5). Andreasen's conclusion regarding her observations of the University of Iowa writers supports Rothenberg's argument; she has found that most writers write when their mood is "normal," neither elevated nor depressed (6). In fact, when writers claim to suffer from severe depressive episodes, their writing usually suffers.
Does the type of creativity matter? Not really. Bipolar disorder affects a high percentage of people in artistic professions, including but not limited to, writers, poets, artists, and musicians (1). Interestingly, in a more recent study carried out by psychologist James Kaufman, it was found that female poets were more likely than fiction writers to have signs of mental illness, such as suicide attempts or hospitalizations, a phenomenon Kaufman has dubbed "the Sylvia Plath effect" (4).
The recent discussions in Neurobiology 202 provide some interesting insight into these above observations. If the neocortex and the rest of the nervous system are intimately connected through a series of pathways, and so inevitably leave traces of each other long after communication has ceased (if it ever does cease), it is not unbelievable that ailments of the "unconscious" can affect the "storyteller." Or to put it more simply, if the unconscious causes an individual to suffer from serious depressive illness, it is likely that the changes made to the nervous system following the disorder may cause some changes in the neocortex. Nothing in the body exists as an isolated system. Of course, the changes made do not necessarily have to translate into the ability to have creative impulses. But it shouldn't come as a surprise that a serious physical ailment of the body will probably have an effect on another seemingly unrelated part of the body.
It is important to note that there has been some speculation suggesting that the rise of mental illness in creative communities is due to the fact that there is much more toleration of mental illness than there is in the rest of society, and not an innate occurrence (1). Artists feel safe in a community that, to some respects, seems to value mental disorder in its members. But the nature of the creative profession is also not conducive to healthy living; there are very few jobs that have a higher rejection rate, that demand a serious removal of both mental and physical faculties to allow for serious speculation, and often writers find themselves absorbed in uncommonly shared symbols that can leave one feeling misunderstood.
Having such insights and as a response to my colleagues’ enquiries, on the graduate students’ light, the only solution to get out from this torment is to know the true essence of being a graduate student that is, contributing an innovative knowledge to our profession. It is through researching and conducting studies that we accomplish this purpose. Accordingly a dissertation is a formal document whose sole purpose is to prove that we have made an original contribution to knowledge. Failure to prove that we have made such a contribution generally leads to disappointment. With much being said, my reflection on chris fleming’s diseases of the thesis is that a person with an erroneous intention of being in a graduate school is at high risk of acquiring such psychological tortures. On the other hand, a dedicated scholar finds the dissertation process as a challenge to their competence, a mind exercise enriching their acumen. However reality cannot deny that dissertation writing is a real killer. It causes up to fifty percent of all graduate students to drop out of their degree programs because of it. The key to avoiding these ourselves may lead us to a better discernment on what we need to do, ideally, to get over this enormous hump.
Students run into trouble two ways when it comes to dissertation writing. Some of us do not get started on our research paper until much too late in the game. Other students get started nominally well – but then they do not get anywhere after that. They run into a wall. They cannot get any further. Pick your cliché; if it involves not being able to finish a big project, then it will work. It does not matter if we have the best dissertation ideas possible; we still have trouble continuing on the way we initially began.
To that end, our choice of dissertation ideas is extremely important. We do not want to choose an idea which is too broad; otherwise we are almost guaranteed to fail. We will become completely overwhelmed by all the information we need to find and all the research we need to do. We will be inundated and we will inevitably run into a serious block.
But why do so many students run into trouble during the dissertation writing process? Namely, it is because writing the dissertation is such a new experience. No matter what kind it is, whether it is an MA dissertation or one for your PhD, this is something we really cannot be experienced with if we have only written one. It marks the often difficult transition between a student and an actual scholar. That is an enormous amount of pressure. When we add into the fact that it is such a huge endeavour and that we are doing it independently, we can easily see why it is so difficult for so many students.
However, the dissertation writing process does not have to be this difficult. It does not have to be insurmountable or impossible. For one thing, although it is a largely independent project, there is a significant amount of dissertation help available for you. Proper guidance from the experts is what we need in this venture of becoming a full pledge authority. This person or group of people will be able to counsel and guide us through the writing process. Other than that, we need to remember to take things one step at a time. Be organized above all else, and things will not feel like they are going to fall to pieces around us.
References
1. Bailey, Deborah Smith. "The Sylvia Plath Effect." November 2003, Vol 34, No. 10. Print version: page 42 (http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov03/plath.aspx )
2. Davis, Laurie. "Mental illness meets creativity in new journal of literary arts." Chicago Chronicle. 2002. 21:11
3. Jamison, Kay Redfield. "Suicide and manic-depressive illness in artist and writers." National Forum. Wntr 1993. 73: 28
4. Kaufman, James C. "The Cost of the Muse: Poets Dies Young." Death Studies. 27: 813-821.
5. Krishna, HimaBindu. "Bipolar Disorder and the Creative Genius." (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1772 )
6. "Virginia Woolf's Psychiatric History: Creativity and Psychiatric Disorder." (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1772 )