ABSTRACT
In the psychoanalytic literature, views of creativity range from equating it with neurosis or regarding it as an expression of psychopathology to perceiving it as the supreme expression of mental health and of the human endeavour for self-realisation and externalisation. Psychoanalysts have advanced the study of the creative process. The chapter summarises some views on the source and the function of creativity. A strong link between the source of the creative act and the body is found in the work of J. McDougall, who states that creativity originates in the erogenic body. Referring to the function of artistic creativity, E. Kris stresses that its function is to plumb the depths of the unconscious. He states: "The study of art is part of the study of communication. Contemporary literature postulates that the creative act might have direct access to the deepest layers of the psyche, where psychic pain usually originates and resides.
