Creative ... or mentally ill?

[LanSite]

Lordy be ... I thought I knew an unusually high # of people on Paxil ...

Creative Mind Shares Traits with Mentally Ill
Wed May 29, 2:19 PM ET
By Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The wildly creative genius often walks a fine line, as many of humankind's greatest minds have edged into the darkness of mental illness. Now a new study shows that creative people tend to share more personality traits with the mentally ill than they do with the middle-of-the-road masses.


This finding suggests that both creativity and manic depression, also called bipolar disorder, may share some of the same genetic underpinnings, Connie M. Strong of Stanford University in California told Reuters Health.

"Both bipolar disorder and creativity probably are genetically driven, and may be related to the same set of genetic predispositions," she suggested.

Strong and her co-author Dr. Terence A. Ketter measured creativity and personality traits in 48 patients with bipolar disorder, 25 patients with depression, 32 graduate students pursuing creative disciplines and 47 healthy people pursuing a relatively uncreative path in life.

Bipolar disorder is marked by extreme mood swings from euphoria and excessive energy to severe depression and hopelessness. These drastic swings can damage the person's relationships and affect their work, and sometimes lead to suicide. Depression is sometimes called a "unipolar" condition in that it is only one half of the equation that makes up bipolar disorder.

Strong and Ketter found that both creative students and those with bipolar disorders shared several personality traits. Such individuals were more open, and more neurotic and moody than the other study participants, according to findings presented at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting held in Philadelphia.

People with neuroticism tend to have more anxiety, lower self-esteem and lower tolerance for stress than other individuals, and they may feel alienated, victimized and resentful, the researchers note.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Strong explained that openness is a trait associated with a willingness to embrace new experiences, as well as being imaginative, curious and unconventional. These traits are often found in creative people, she added.

Because similar traits are found in those with bipolar disorder it might indicate that both creativity and the mental illness stem from a similar genetic predisposition.

"It makes sense that they are two potential outcomes of a shared predisposition," she said.

Indeed, previous studies have shown that there is a much higher rate of bipolar disorder in creative individuals than those in the general population.

Strong said that people with bipolar disorder might also have creative tendencies because they see the world in two ways, with the same surroundings appearing differently to them depending on whether they are feeling manic or depressed.

This "double view" of the world could allow manic depressive patients to be more open, she noted, one of the hallmark traits of creativity.

The bipolar patients that participated in Strong's study appeared to be many times as creative as patients with depression, and showed even higher levels of creativity relative to those without mental illness. In fact, creativity among treated bipolar patients matched that seen in the graduate students pursuing creative degrees.

Strong added that it was important to note that bipolar disorder patients showed high creativity despite the fact that they were being treated for their condition. Many patients are afraid to take medication for their disorder out of fear that it will impair their creativity, but these findings seem to suggest otherwise, Strong said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ative_mental_1

[gerbick]

dammit. that explains a lot.

<throws medicine out of window>

[TallGuyLittleCar]

Very interesting read Lannie. STill very dismissive of people being labeled mentally ill. I believe its motivated by the pharmacuteical companies.

Interesting side note, the sate with the highest concentration of depression cases? Utah?
Why? Alchohol is a mormon no-no. however zanax and prozac are not.

this post brought to you by someone that is drug free.... despite the wishes of a couple "doctors". alchohol and caffiene are not drugs, the are signs of a loving god.

[NerdInside]

Hmmm... This could explain why I went insane at 2:21 AM today.

[DeeDesigns]

Title - Mapping the mind
Author - Rita Carter
ISBN 0-297-82330-2

page 104

extract from Kay Redfield Jamison, Prof of Psychiatry, John Hopkins University School of Medicine
For years, scientists have documented a connection between mania, depression and creativity. In the late ninetieth and early twentieth centuries, researchers turned to accounts of mood disorders written by prominent artists, their physicians and friends. Their work strongly suggested that renowned writers, artists and composers and their first-degree relatives were more likely to experience mood disorders and to commit suicide than was the general population.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who experienced recurrent depression and probably hypomanic spells, often expressed fears that he might inherit the ‘taint of blood’ in his family. His father, grandmother and two great-grandfathers, as well as five of his brothers, suffered from insanity, melancholia, uncontrollable rage or what today know as manic depressive illness. One brother was confined to an asylum for nearly six years, Lionel, one of Alfred’s sons, displayed a mercurial temperament, as did one of his grandsons.
People with manic depressive illness and those who are creative share certain features: the ability to function well on a few hours’ sleep, the focus to work intensively and an ability to experience depth and variety of emotions. Where depression questions, ruminates and hesitates, mania answers with vigour and certainty.
Robert Schumann’s musical works, charted by year and opus number, show a striking relation between his moods and his productivity. He composed most when hypomanic and least when depressed. Both his parents were clinically depressed, and two other relatives committed suicide. Schumann himself attempted suicide twice and died in an insane asylum. One of his sons spent more than thirty years in a mental institution.

come to think of it i know quite a lot of mentally ill people that are creative

[hollywood]

Insanity is good for ya.

[NerdInside]

A little insanity never hurt anyone. Everyone needs a little insanity.

[ad_mtk2]

we are all creative though right??? (as Flashers that is)

(no i don't mean the thing you do on sundays whilst driving down the street, i mean the program Macromedia Flash )

[Beckstar]

Originally posted by TallGuyLittleCar
Very interesting read Lannie. STill very dismissive of people being labeled mentally ill. I believe its motivated by the pharmacuteical companies.

Interesting side note, the sate with the highest concentration of depression cases? Utah?
Why? Alchohol is a mormon no-no. however zanax and prozac are not.

this post brought to you by someone that is drug free.... despite the wishes of a couple "doctors". alchohol and caffiene are not drugs, the are signs of a loving god.

Would have to disagree agree with you there mate - it actually all makes logical sense if you are familiar with the going ons and ins and outs of the brain - I am actually reading quite a few interesting books on the brain at the moment which cover this same topic - the brain is a fascinating thing - it is who we are and makes us who we are, the slightest change in a balance of naturally occuring chemicals in the brain can affect who you are - scary thought.
For example; Parkinsons disease is due to a decrease in the amount of dopamine in the brain, so the obvious treatment is to increase dopamine, but this in turn causes Schizophrenia and vice versa - which is why drug users sometimes go a little strange. Having said this though, some people who develop these problems also develop new talents, such as an ability to paint / draw quite well.
Picasso's paintings have been researched quite a bit and the extent of the cubism in his paintings may indicate that he suffered from quite severe headaches / migraines - quite a few great artists are believed to of suffered from some type of mental afflictions.

Sometimes its the people who appear a little crazy that in fact have the highest IQ's.

We will never understand the brain in its entirety:

If we were so smart as to be able to understand our brains, then our brains would be so simple, that we would actually be dumb.

[crazybonkers]

Sorry I thought you were looking for someone mentally ill…

Mental illness is a negative variation of brain function. Creative, genius is a positive variation of brain make and functionality

[CNO]

Here's another interesting read:

The Geek Syndrome
Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome - is surging among the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9...ergers_pr.html

[Mad-Sci]

Quick note: Prozac will make you happy not depressed.

<-- see..

ms

[Beckstar]

Originally posted by crazybonkers
Sorry I thought you were looking for someone mentally ill…

Mental illness is a negative variation of brain function. Creative, genius is a positive variation of brain make and functionality

True you are, mental illness may well be a negative variation of brain function, but a negative variation in turn can produce a positive variation in the brain that was not originally present.

[Beckstar]

Originally posted by CNO
Here's another interesting read:

The Geek Syndrome
Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome - is surging among the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9...ergers_pr.html

Hmmm - this is a very interesting question - I watched a documentary on the increasing number of childern with autism the other day.

Some seem to think that it may in fact be due to the MMR vaccine, as symptons of autism appear almost immediately after some children have been vaccinated- of course, this is not a fact, but rather just an idea and although it hasn't been proven or accepted, it's a possibility.

I don't mean to say that I believe this - who know's whats going on with our genes these days. Despite our mapping the genome, we're still a long way from determining the direct causes of the defects.

[crazybonkers]

Originally posted by Beckstar

Originally posted by crazybonkers
Sorry I thought you were looking for someone mentally ill…

Mental illness is a negative variation of brain function. Creative, genius is a positive variation of brain make and functionality

True you are, mental illness may well be a negative variation of brain function, but a negative variation in turn can produce a positive variation in the brain that was not originally present.

I agree.. this could be called intuition or a revelation. When cells connect with other cells they build memories and understandings. Understandings when pieced with other memories (understandings) could result in a genius