{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,6]],"date-time":"2025-08-06T14:01:19Z","timestamp":1754488879164,"version":"3.38.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,13]],"date-time":"2025-01-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1736726400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":12,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["CNS Spectr."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n\t  <jats:p>The link between creativity and serious mental illness (SMI) is widely discussed. Jackson Pollock is one example of a giant in the field of art who was both highly creative and experiencing an SMI. Pollock created a new genre of art known as abstract expressionism (\u201caction painting\u201d) defined as showing the frenetic actions of painting. The question arises whether his SMI played any role in the way he created his drip paintings, especially when he was overactive and manic. Furthermore, did visual hallucinations or enhanced visual perception associated with mania or psychosis facilitate Pollock in embedding and camouflaging images under layers of thrown paint? Seeing images in Pollocks drip paintings has been a controversy ever since these paintings were created. Some experts attribute this to pareidolia\u2014perceiving specific images out of random or ambiguous visual patterns\u2014a phenomenon known to be enhanced by fractal fuzzy edges such as seen in Rorschach ink blots as well as in Pollock drip paintings. So, are Pollock\u2019s drip paintings merely giant Rorschach images, or did Pollock insert polloglyphs\u2014images that are encrypted that tell a story about Pollock\u2019s inner being\u2014into his paintings and then disguise them with drippings? Here, we explore answers to these questions and discuss images that Pollock included in his earliest sketches and used repeatedly in his abstract paintings and later in his drip paintings to argue that these images are not accidental.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/s1092852924002347","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,13]],"date-time":"2025-01-13T01:05:57Z","timestamp":1736730357000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["What role did serious mental illness play in Jackson Pollock\u2019s drip paintings? Abstract expressionism and possible links to serious mental illness and encrypted images (polloglyphs)"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"30","author":[{"given":"Stephen M.","family":"Stahl","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2866-7929","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Debbi Ann","family":"Morrissette","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jahon","family":"Jabali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jon A.","family":"Gates","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"S1092852924002347_r30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1039856218762306"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.bp.110.085316"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r22","unstructured":"22. News article by University of Oregon. Fractal edges shown to be key to imagery seen in orschach inkblots. phys.org\/news\/2017\u201302-fractal-edges-shown-key-imagery.html."},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/bul0000049"},{"volume-title":"Jackson Pollock","year":"1989","author":"Landau","key":"S1092852924002347_r14"},{"volume-title":"Vision: A Computational Investigation into the Human rRepresentation and Processing of Visual Information","year":"1982","author":"Marr","key":"S1092852924002347_r26"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r3","first-page":"239","article-title":"Creativity and bipolar disorder: a shared genetic vulnerability","volume":"2020","author":"Greenwood","journal-title":"Ann Rev Clin Psychol."},{"volume-title":"An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness","year":"1995","author":"Jamison","key":"S1092852924002347_r11"},{"journal-title":"Nat News","article-title":"Fractal secrets of Rorschach\u2019s famed ink blots revealed","author":"Abbott","key":"S1092852924002347_r20"},{"volume-title":"Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament","year":"1993","author":"Jamison","key":"S1092852924002347_r12"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-024-61320-y"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1745691617699653"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2013.07.016"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/wps.20994"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r7","first-page":"198","article-title":"Positive traits in the bipolar spectrum: the space between madness and genius","volume":"2","author":"Greenwood","year":"2017","journal-title":"Mol Neuropsychiatry."},{"volume-title":"Jackson Pollock","year":"1988","author":"Varnedoe","key":"S1092852924002347_r15"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/9781108921275"},{"volume-title":"Tesla: His Tremendous and Troubled Life, The Story of Tesla\u2019s Genius and Bipolar Disorder","year":"2022","author":"Perko","key":"S1092852924002347_r13"},{"volume-title":"Jackson Pollock: An American Story","year":"1989","author":"Naifeh","key":"S1092852924002347_r19"},{"volume-title":"Such Desperate Joy: Imagining Jackson Pollock","year":"2000","author":"Harrison","key":"S1092852924002347_r16"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r24","first-page":"71","volume-title":"Jackson Pollock","author":"Karmel","year":"1988"},{"volume-title":"Jackson Pollock: Energy Made Visible","year":"1972","author":"Friedman","key":"S1092852924002347_r17"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r21","unstructured":"21. Taylor, R . The facts about Pollock\u2019s fractals. blogs.uoregon.edu\/richardtaylor\/2017\/01\/04\/the-facts-about-pollocks-fractals\/."},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.ajp.2017.16121379"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r31","first-page":"24","article-title":"Phenytoin in bipolar depression: an old chapter, but not yet properly evaluated","volume":"1","author":"Hesselink Keppel","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Mood Disorders Therapy."},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/00048674231195259"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r33","unstructured":"33. Gates, JA , Morrissette, DA , Stahl, SM . Do images in Jackson Pollock\u2019s paintings \u2013 polloglyphs \u2013 arise from his conscious and unconscious or are they all in the viewers\u2019 mind? CNS Spectrums, Abstracts of the 19th Annual Neuroscience Education Institute Psychopharmacology Congress, Colorado Springs, November 8\u201312; 2023."},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.ajp.2014.13121570"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r32","unstructured":"32. Morrissette, DA , Gates, JA , Stahl, SM . Pollock\u2019s abstract images in paintings prior to his drip paintings. CNS Spectrums, Abstracts of the 19th Annual Neuroscience Education Institute Psychopharmacology Congress, Colorado Springs, November 8\u201312; 2023."},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r23","unstructured":"23. Kikon, NO . Quasi Jackson Pollock with Rorschach and a hint of Projective test. medium.com\/@mzanokharskikon\u2212\/quasi-jackson-pollock-with-rorschach-and-a-hint-of -a-projective-test-1aeea17b7429; 2018."},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r25","first-page":"87","volume-title":"Jackson Pollock","author":"Karmel","year":"1988"},{"key":"S1092852924002347_r6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2011.10.001","article-title":"Creativity and bipolar disorder: touched by fire or burning with questions?","volume":"32","author":"Johnson","year":"2012","journal-title":"Clin Psychol Rev."},{"volume-title":"Psychoanalytic Drawings","year":"1070","author":"Wysuph","key":"S1092852924002347_r18"}],"container-title":["CNS Spectrums"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/S1092852924002347","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,5]],"date-time":"2025-03-05T08:01:15Z","timestamp":1741161675000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/product\/identifier\/S1092852924002347\/type\/journal_article"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025]]},"references-count":33,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025]]}},"alternative-id":["S1092852924002347"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/s1092852924002347","relation":{},"ISSN":["1092-8529","2165-6509"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"1092-8529"},{"type":"electronic","value":"2165-6509"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025]]},"article-number":"e9"}}