Sex, Drugs and Creativity ― Searching for Magic in a Disenchanted World

In Sex, Drugs, and Creativity: The Search for Magic in a Disenchanted World, Kahoud and Knafo take a close look at omnipotent fantasies in three domains: sex, drugs, and creativity. They demonstrate how these fantasies emerge and how artists draw on them both to create and destroy—sometimes simultaneously – and how understanding this can help psychoanalysts work more effectively with these individuals.

Using the personal statements of influential artists and entertainers, in addition to clinical material, the authors examine the omnipotence of self-destruction as it contends with that of creative artists. The authors argue that creative artists use omnipotent fantasies to imagine the world differently - this enables them to produce their art, but also leaves these artists vulnerable to addiction. Chapters devoted to Stephen King and Anne Sexton demonstrate the ways these authors used drugs and alcohol to fuel imagination and inspire creative output while simultaneously doing harm to themselves. A detailed case study also demonstrates successful clinical work with a creative substance user.

Sex, Drugs, and Creativity will appeal to anyone interested in the links between creativity and substance use, and will be of great use to psychoanalysts and mental health practitioners working with these challenging clients.

Dustin Kahoud is a clinical psychologist with specialized training in the treatment of addictions. He has received postgraduate training in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy as a candidate at the Derner Institute, where he also teaches classes on addictions to psychology graduate students. Dustin Kahoud continues to write about the omnipotent fantasies that drive human behavior, and he maintains a private practice in Great Neck, NY.

Danielle Knafo is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. She is a professor at Long Island University and New York University. She has written and lectured extensively on the subjects of trauma, creativity, and sexuality. Her most recent book (with Routledge) is The Age of Perversion: Desire and Technology in Psychoanalysis and Culture.