An Exploration of the Intersection between Creativity and Psychotherapy

Creativity has been conceptualized not just as a measure of artistic ability, but also as an adaptive trait of everyday innovation. We posit the relevance of "everyday creativity" to the field of psychotherapy. Although creativity has been theorized in psychotherapy models of change and the therapy process, little empirical research has examined patients' and therapists' creativity in psychotherapy treatments. Moreover, creativity research has been hampered by the vast array of definitions and operationalizations of the construct. Despite a lack of direct evidence, there appears to be substantial overlap between the empirically observed characteristics of creativity and the aims of psychotherapy treatments. First, research on characteristics of creative individuals, by way of personality, cognition, emotion, and psychopathology might overlap with what we know about individuals who benefit from psychotherapy. Second, the therapeutic process might resemble a creative process, suggesting that creativity could be a mediator of treatment outcomes. Third, creativity may be seen as a treatment outcome in that it reflects the achievement of more open-minded thinking, cognitive and emotional flexibility, as well as diminished psychopathology. We take a hypothesis-generating stance, suggesting future research that could test a potential mediating/moderating role of creativity in psychotherapy.