If you’re reading this then you’re probably 3X more likely to suffer with mental health issues.

The majority of people who read my blog posts and follow me on Linkedin are connected to the creative industries. Most are creative professionals. And if that includes you, then according to research from the wellbeing charity Inspire and Ulster University, it means you are three times more likely to suffer with poor mental health than the general population. The most commonly diagnosed disorders being anxiety and depression. The creative industry environment it seems exacerbates the mental health issues already being experienced by creative people. Triggers include pressure to reach impossibly high standards (both externally and internally) in increasingly short time frames, irregular work (including contracts, financial insecurity, and irregular hours), the perceived lack of value placed on their work and the inadequate financial rewards for the work.

Which, when you think about it dispassionately for a moment, is hardly a business model for success. The creative industries wouldn’t exist without amazing creative people like you to drive and fuel it. It relies upon your brilliance and resilience. Surely, no sensible industry would be so absent in the care of their most precious asset.

So, I wondered if the reason this is being allowed to happen lies in the fact that most people labour under lazy stereotypical assumptions about creatives, like they are just a bit sensitive and silly, and need to pull themselves together, instead of understanding the reality. The fact that mental health issues and creativity are linked is not news to anyone. But perhaps if there was a greater understanding of what that means in real terms, then the industry might start to consider how to harness you in a more healthy and productive way. It makes for bleak reading.

For any creative who has worked in the creative industries for a while, it won’t be a shock to also learn of the findings of Professor Key Redfield Jamison of St John Hopkins University: She discovered that one per cent of the general population is bipolar yet the rates of bipolar in creative professionals shoots up to between 5% and 40%, reaching as high as 70% when cyclothymia, a milder syndrome of cycles of elation and gloom, is included. And in the case of unipolar or major depression, the population rate is about 5% but the rate among creatives is between 15% and 50%. Professor Redfield Jamison also observes that manic-depressives in their high or manic state think faster and associate more freely. When manic, people need less sleep, have unusual energy, remarkable focus and an inflated self-belief, all of which may allow for the production of original work. Sound familiar, anyone? Jamison goes on to suggest that a bipolar personality may also help creatives in a more general sense. ‘The manic-depressive temperament is, in a biological sense, an alert, sensitive system that reacts strongly and swiftly. It responds to the world with a wide range of emotional, perceptual, intellectual, behavioural and energy changes’. Which sounds alarmingly like the best creatives you’ve worked with, doesn’t it?

Terence Ketter, professor of psychiatry and behavioural science at Stanford University, has studied creativity in both bipolar and depression sufferers. He identifies personality factors and cognitive styles common to bipolar and creatives: changeable feelings, high intuition, curiosity and open-mindedness. Similarly, sensitivity and rumination are common to both creatives and depressives. “The arts are more dangerous [than other occupations] because they require sensitivity to a large extent, if you go too far you can pay a price.”

I’m not suggesting that all creative people have mental health issues. But there is a very significant number who do. For many people creativity comes at a cost, so it makes sense for the creative industries to better recognize what drives and triggers them, and not force them to pay a penalty for delivering what the industry needs most. So much more needs to be done to understand and support creative people in business. Hopefully this article will give you the opportunity to start a conversation in your Management or HR team about the real dangers your mental health faces in pursuit of great creativity. The very reason that you are exceptional is the reason that you are vulnerable to the pressures of your talents.

In the meantime, look after yourself. Put boundaries in. Separate your work-life from your home-life. Take breaks. Holidays. Lunch. Coffee. If you can delegate then do it. Ask for support, don’t suffer silently. Get some coaching to help you find some clarity on your work issues. The creative industries need you to be in great shape. Not suffering. You are the reason the creative industries are growing at 5 times the rate of the UK economy and worth £125 Billion annually. Just imagine what could be achieved with some understanding and support.

If you are in the creative industries and finding it hard to cope, please reach out to someone you trust. As you can see from the numbers in this article, you are by no means alone.