Many a joke have been made about actors and their mental health. This may not be surprising, given the intense scrutiny placed on people in this profession, and the abundance of information delivered about their daily lives and habits. Although pop culture certainly supports the idea that acting as a profession is filled with people with declining (or declined) mental health, is there truly a link between personality disorders and acting as a profession?
The History of Declining Mental Health and the Theatre
The theatre has long been considered a place for people who were considered the dregs of society. Plays were often seen as countercultural, and viewed as a pastime that was heretical, hedonistic, or deeply problematic. While actors today might be revered, people working in the theatre throughout history may have been regarded with more distrust or judgement—though there are certainly notable exceptions, such as opera performers. The advent of acting as a respectable profession is somewhat recent, and with reason: acting was often used to detail thought patterns and behaviors that were not within the norms of the day, making theatre a problematic pastime for people of all ages. This is true of learned societies and religious societies alike, as both were prone to viewing acting as a lesser profession or engagement.
What the Research Says
Although the precise prevalence of mental disorders and conditions among actors and actresses is nearly impossible to quantify, studies that have looked into the matter do suggest that people who work in the acting industry do score higher on examinations looking for personality disorders and other mental health conditions, including traits such as neuroticism. People who enter the acting profession are at greater risk of having mental health conditions than those in the general population—particularly antisocial personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder. Articles on personality and associated disorders can more thoroughly investigate the different types of personality disorders and their symptoms, and whether those symptoms match the profiles of the most popular actors of our day.
The Chicken or the Egg?
The precise relationship between acting as a profession and mental health is not known; it is not yet known whether individuals with mental disorders and conditions seek out positions like those found in theatre, or develop mental health conditions as a result of the work required of working actors and actresses. One small study determined that the work required of acting as a profession can lead to the development of distressing symptoms, rather than those symptoms specifically leading people to seek out a career in television, film, or theatre. Because no large-scale studies have been done to determine whether the link is causal or not, the current understanding of the relationship between personality disorders and the acting career is that certain personality disorder traits predispose people to develop an interest in participating in the arts—and specifically, the theatre.