Heaven's Sense: a novel / At hand-grips with ruin: the psychology of writer's block

Macleod, Kenneth (2016) Heaven's Sense: a novel / At hand-grips with ruin: the psychology of writer's block. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

There is a significant attitude of scepticism when it comes to belief in the existence of writer's block as a valid psychological phenomenon, alongside what might be described as the "Tortured Artist Personality". It is contended here that both writer's block and the "Tortured Artist Personality" do exist in a minority of professional and aspiring fiction writers, and furthermore that these phenomena are forms of personality behaviour that have already been well-catalogued by the academic fields of psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy: specifically, writer's block is a form of unconscious maladaptive procrastination - expressed through avoidance coping or escape coping behaviour - which in turn arises from the fully-accepted personality trait of perfectionism. Aspects of perfectionism, together with various sub-scale traits and mediators, are also the key components in at least one form of "Tortured Artist Personality". This paper lays out the extensive evidence for these assertions, using existing research in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and neuroscience.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Due to copyright restrictions the full text of this thesis cannot be made available online. Access to the printed version is available once any embargo periods have expired.
• Keywords: writer's block, tortured artist, tortured artist personality, perfectionism, dysfunctional perfectionism, maladaptive procrastination, avoidance coping, escape coping, writer's block an emotional disorder caused by dysfunctional perfectionism.
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology; P Language and Literature > PR English literature
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Literature
• Supervisor's Name: Coyle, Doctor John
• Date of Award: 2016
• Embargo Date: 2 November 2019
• Depositing User: Doctor Kenneth Macleod
• Unique ID: glathesis:2016-7625
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 15 Nov 2016 11:14
• Last Modified: 16 Feb 2017 11:32
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/7625