When the creative well dries up–burnout syndrome and art block in artists’ sample

The aim of this study is to explore burnout syndrome among visual artists from the perspective of art block, stressing the role of perfectionism and emotion regulation strategies. The study was divided into two phases: the first was dedicated to developing the Art Block Scale (ABS) to measure levels of perceived art block; the aim of the second phase was to assess the psychometric properties of ABS and analyze the relationships between art block and stress-related constructs. The sample consisted of 532 visual artists (249 participants in the 1st phase and 282 in the 2nd phase). Besides ABS, the Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism Questionnaire (AMPQ), the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies Questionnaire (CERQ) were used in the study. The results indicate good psychometric characteristics of ABS (Cronbach alpha: 0.79) and a strong correlation between art block and burnout exhaustion (rho = 0.84; p < 0.001). A significant correlation was observed between art block and perfectionism, especially maladaptive perfectionism (rho = 0.59; p < 0.01). Moreover, art block was significantly associated with the following cognitive emotion regulation strategies: self-blame, rumination, catastrophizing, positive refocusing, positive reappraisal and refocus on planning. The results of this study suggest that art block may be an important construct in burnout research on the artist population. In addition, the Art Block Scale appears to be a promising tool for future research on samples of artists.