Defining Creativity Reading Answers

Is there a link between creativity and mental illness?

Historically, there are striking associations between creativity and mood disorders, particularly with bipolar disorder. Mood disorders affected Van Gogh throughout his life as they did author Virginia Woolf, and both of them sadly ended their lives by suicide. Van Gogh suffered from severe bouts of both psychotic mania and depression during the last few years of his life, yet he created more than 300 of his greatest paintings during that period. Woolf wrote 15 novels and countless short stories, articles and journals. The poet Sylvia Plath suffered from severe mood disorder for much of her life and also died by her own hand at the age of 31. Despite her depression at the time of her death, she wrote intensely, working late into the night and rising early, with a wry sense of humour, indicating alternating periods of mania or hypomania.

The list of creative people with mood disorders and psychiatric conditions throughout history is fascinating, and so extensive that it would be almost easier to write a list of those not to include. A quick glance at online lists of people who have suffered from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and major depressive disorders seem to be primarily made up of artists, musicians, actors and writers, with a heavily disproportionate number of comedians, though it should be said that the source of these lists is probably more anecdotal than clinical.

The majority of those included are contemporary figures, probably due to more frequent diagnoses and the current reduced stigma associated with psychopathology. Despite this type of evidence, there are few research findings on the relationship between creativity and mental illness that result in more than an association. Mental illness itself has been thoroughly investigated and the various types categorized and classified, but creativity itself is not so easy to even define. Or possibly too easy, as there are at least sixty definitions and varieties of creativity out there, but none have been agreed on by the scientific community. One way of locating creative subjects for studies without the problem of defining creativity is to focus on creative jobs, to which there is less dispute. On the assumption that creative people do creative jobs, which may already be a stretch, studies have looked at the level of psychiatric disorders among people on art, writing and music courses, and within the professions attached to them. An inordinate number of participants do suffer from types of mental illnesses, and writers have been particularly associated with bipolar disorder. But this is still merely an association. The cause or the reason has not really been pinpointed.

There are problems with the relatively few studies that have been done over the years. The majority of them have been flawed in some way. Many have involved very small numbers of subjects, they have not had control groups, the variety of subjects within the creative groups were limited, blind studies were not used and a number of other factors which call into question the amount of bias and lack of validity of all these studies. Granted, it is not easy to find subjects for research like this, though there are more people who admit to a diagnosis these days, but having an adequate control group is standard scientific practice. It is disappointing that so much time has been spent on weak literature that cannot be cited because its validity is now in question. All because of a lack of adherence to the scientific method.

A Swedish study from 2011 does seem somewhat robust due to its sheer size - the entire Swedish population. The researchers observed that people with bipolar disorder were 1.3 times more likely to be working in a creative industry. No difference within the population was found with any other mental disorder however. This study too was flawed because working within a certain industry does not necessarily mean a person is creative. Even the most creative advertising agency has a bookkeeper, and how many waiters are aspiring novelists? However, over such a large population the findings are interesting, particularly the distinction between bipolar and other mental illnesses.

Mental illness and creativity are similar in that they both involve thinking that diverges from normal observation of concepts and objects.

Creativity is the capacity to come up with new ideas and modes of expression, and to make connections between things that are not normally associated in new and imaginative ways. The results are positive and constructive. Often mental illness can result in making connections between unrelated phenomena, but in the form of uncontrolled negative thinking and delusion. Sufferers of bipolar disorder have periods of euphoria where enormous creativity can occur, but there is delusional fantasy and a lack of judgment that can be disruptive, destructive and dangerous. Some people say that mental illness enhances their creativity and refuse to take medication because of this belief. Does this mean that these people feel that their mental illness is the cause of their creativity?

There is also another element that is common between creativity and psychopathology - an element of risk taking and lack of inhibition. In a creative action, this results in inspiration and productivity, but with mental illness the results are more random and probably have parallels between creativity and mental illness. Perhaps creativity is merely a controlled, positive form of something that also has mental illness lying at the other end of its spectrum.