Reply to comment

In order to address the challenge of coming up with a model of mental illness, I would like to collapse the health-illness duality.  Hopefully, this will eliminate the need to establish a normative reality.  Instead, I would like to discuss the relationship between a person and their life.  The idea, that a human life can be considered an artwork, was suggested by my philosophy professor, Michael Krausz.  I would like to expand this metaphor further… Life can be both a creative process and a creative product. 

A human life can be considered an artwork or a series of artworks.  The artist is the human living a particular life, creating a unique work of piece.  This piece is based on the person’s own experiences, feelings, and talents.  Others can contribute to this piece by acting as muses and teachers knowledgeable about different techniques.  These are the roles that I would have doctors, physical and psychological play.  The goal is simply for the artist to continue contributing artwork to the community.  The sum of the art objects or artwork, the product, is the complete life of a person. 

The concept of artwork appeals to me because of the similarities between art and health.   Artwork, like life, is very tricky to evaluate because of differences in cultural contexts and interpretative practices.