THE POTENTIAL OF CREATIVITY AS A RESOURCE FOR MENTAL WELL-BEING

Abstract

The present study explores the ways in which creativity and an individual’s psychological health are interrelated. Among the numerous factors that contribute to maintenance and strengthening of mental well-being, creativity holds a significant place as a universal mechanism for adaptation, self-expression, and personal growth. The article reviews key theoretical approaches to understanding creativity in the context of psychological well-being. In particular, viewing creativity through the lens of mental health necessitates an interdisciplinary analysis. Humanistic psychology regards creativity as a natural human need for self-expression, selfactualization, and achieving a fulfilling existence. In narrative psychology, creativity is seen as a mechanism for constructing a coherent identity. Contemporary sources also highlight the socio-cultural dimension of creativity as a resource for mental well-being. In cognitive psychology, creativity is studied as a problem-solving process that requires unconventional thinking, cognitive flexibility, combinatorial capacity, and divergent thinking. Within existential psychology, creativity is perceived as a way of becoming aware of one’s existence, i.e., a personal response to deep existential questions about meaning, freedom, responsibility, and death. Psychoanalysis studies creativity as a form of sublimation, i.e., the redirection of internal energy (especially sexual or aggressive) into socially acceptable and constructive activities. In positive psychology, creativity is regarded as one of the key pathways to achieving subjective well-being, “flow” experiences, and the realization of individual strengths. Creativity today is viewed not only as a cognitive or aesthetic phenomenon but also as a psychological function that integrates the emotional-volitional, cognitive, and personal spheres. This study identifies the therapeutic, compensatory, communicative, and selfactualizing functions of creative activity. Emphasis is placed on creativity as a resource for emotional regulation, self-exploration, and the preservation of inner integrity. Therefore, creativity, as a complex psychological construct, performs several critically important functions in ensuring an individual’s psychological health. Not only it contributes to emotional stabilization, self-awareness, and compensation for psychological deficits but also creates conditions for multi-faceted personal development and self-realization. Creativity, as an internal resource, unlocks opportunities for constructively overcoming life challenges, maintaining existential meaning, and fostering psychological wholeness. Its application in psychotherapy, rehabilitation, education, and self-help facilitates emotional release, experience integration, the development of resourceful states, self-awareness, and self-realization. Expanding the range of creative practices in psychological support meets the demands of modern society and promotes the humanization of psychological care.