Rebuilding imagination

[amichael]

Thanks for all your lovely responses, certainly a lot of help to be had here I'm absolutely certain my imagination loss happened when I was taking Effexor XR and my husband was the one to point it out to me. I couldn't figure out what happened until that moment of clarity. Depression wasn't the cause, I'm fairly certain, as the loss didn't happen until I switched drugs to Effexor XR. Prior to that I was on a different drug and was as productive and imaginative as ever.

I'm currently drug-free and feeling pretty amazing for the first time since my mid-teens (almost 32 now). I saw a damn good psychologist who used Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and life has been just been getting better since seeing him. After about a year of therapy I just picked up my art supplies and began arting like a demon, as though I'd never stopped for 10 long years.

The problem of lack of imagination persists, though I'm having small flashes of "ideas" starting to happen, usually when I'm trying to sleep *grumble*. I'm hoping if I nurture these and kind of chill out about it all instead of grabbing wildly and having it slip through my fingers in frustration, then those neural pathways will start to develop again. The issue doesn't just affect my art - I can no longer imagine how things might look for everyday purposes which kind of sucks when I'm trying to renovate a house or even get something framed. I can see what's before me on the plan, or the sample bits of matting and frame, but I can't put it all together as a possible 'finished product' in my head to evaluate how it might turn out.

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions, here's hoping I can get "it" back

[darkwolf29]

The mind has a wonderful resilient nature. I, too, find myself with a lack of imagination sometimes. Mine is a self induced job problem. I work in IT, not an occupation known for it's creativity...I'm just saying. So, in order to combat this, I have started doing a few things:

1) Keep a pad and pencil by the bed. You are correct, your mind comes up with some wild stuff during dreams. When you have a good one, write it down. I often use this as brainstorm beginning.

2) Brainstorm. Take a tought and follow it out, writing down whatever you can come up with. If it's a simple topic, like the President or the economy...write down how these things make you feel...then examine those words. You will be amazed at how fast your mind will begin to understand what you want it to do.

Your imagination is not permanently lost. But, it is in hibernation. You can wake it up, and by keeping trying, you will.

Every single one of these thoughts are great and should be thought about, in my opnion. Personally....I will taking afew ideas from here as well.

You are not alone in this type of issue. The question, really, is....what do you do about it?

[Keith Russell]

I think the mind needs to be used, just as the body does. The more you "work" your imagination, the better it will be. Draw the things you want to envision, and look-really look-at a variety of images, both objects and photographs.

Best wishes!

[fritzie]

amichael, if you get ideas when you are trying to sleep and don't want to turn on the light to write them down, talk it into a tape recorder.

[AllisonR]

or just write in the dark, with your finger as a general guide so your words don't go on top of each other. You might have wide gaps and a bit of wasted paper, but often just jotting down a few comments or phrases is enough for your brain to relax and go back to sleep, because you know this will be enough to trigger your memory tomorrow. I did this for 18 months straight when I had PTSD, and I got good at writing in the dark, because I had to.

Are you going to ask the mayo clinic, or have you searched the web for others with similar effects from the same meds - can lead you interesting places.