Anaïs Nin: A case study of personality disorder and creativity

Anaïs Nin, diarist and author of autobiographical novellas and erotica, and gregarious socialite, was known for her exotic persona and stormy personal life. The concept of personality disorder and the underlying assumption of the buffering capacity that personality affords to stressors are discussed. Against this background, evidence drawn from Nin’s diaries, short stories and two biographies suggests that she conformed to the diagnostic criteria of histrionic personality disorder (HPD), with comorbid borderline and narcissistic features, and numerous Axis I symptoms. The proposed origin of the overall dysfunctional histrionic pattern is attributed to her early developmental history, and the maladaptive cognitive mechanisms of dissociation and repression inferred from her writings and shown to conform to the HPD pattern. Finally, it is argued that while Nin may not have displayed the classic divergent cognitive style thought to underlie the association between schizotypy and creativity, her HPD psychopathology was pivotal in shaping her creative products, most famous of which is her diary.