The Sylvia Plath effect is a term coined by psychologist James C. Kaufman in 2001 to refer to the phenomenon that poets are more susceptible to mental illness than other creative writers. Although many studies (e.g., Andreasen, 1987; Jamison, 1989; Ludwig, 1995) have demonstrated that creative writers are prone to suffer from mental illness, this relationship has not been examined in depth. This early finding has been dubbed “the Sylvia Plath effect,” and implications and possibilities for future research are discussed. Kaufman's work further demonstrated that female poets were more likely to suffer from mental illness than any other class of writers. In addition, female poets were more likely to be mentally ill than other eminent women, such as politicians, actresses, and artists.
The effect is named after Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide at the age of 30 after several attempts throughout her life.
Read more about Sylvia Plath Effect: Supporting Evidence, Sylvia Plath, Female Writers, Sex Differences, Criticism, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words sylvia plath, plath and/or effect:
“And now you try
Your handful of notes;
The clear vowels rise like balloons.”
—Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)
“The moon has nothing to be sad about,
Staring from her hood of bone.
She is used to this sort of thing.
Her blacks crackle and drag.”
—Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)
“We all have—to put it as nicely as I can—our lower centres and our higher centres. Our lower centres act: they act with terrible power that sometimes destroys us; but they don’t talk.... Since the war the lower centres have become vocal. And the effect is that of an earthquake. For they speak truths that have never been spoken before—truths that the makers of our domestic institutions have tried to ignore.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)