Holden, C. (1987, April). Creativity and the troubled mind. Psychology Today.

OVERVIEW

THESIS

Creativity and mental disorders are definitely related. Evidently, manic depression can supply an intense amount of energy that is, in some cases, directed toward creative and artistic productivity.

BACKGROUND

The experience of manic or hypomanic depression is conducive to a creative mind. Modern studies of human behavior hint that there is a connection between art and insanity, between creativity and manic depression. This is especially true in writers and poets. Some of our most famous writers were manically depressed: Lowell, Schwartz, Jarrell, Roethke, and maybe even Milton. Some even committed suicide (Sylvia Plath, Ann Sexton, John Berryman).

Manic depression is characterized by extreme hyperactivity, grandiose delusions, and suicidal depression. Manic depression has been shown to be hereditary. In fact, if a twin child experiences it, the other twin has an eighty percent chance of experiencing it as well.

STUDIES

Nancy C. Adreasen, a psychiatrist at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, explored this topic in a study of fifteen writers and some non-writers. Later, she increased the number of people to thirty and found that eighty percent of the writers had to be treated for mood disorders, compared to thirty percent of the non-writers. Also, forty-three percent of the writers had manic depressive illness, compared to ten percent of the others. Two of the writers committed suicide during the fifteen-year study.

There are many mood states in which creativity and manic depression have common symptoms. These include emotional reactivity (an extreme sensitivity to physical and emotional stimuli), disinhibition (the power to access the unconscious easily and freely), and absorption (the ability to maintain superior concentration and flowing imagination). Andreasen says that creative and manic depressive people have "extremely fine-tuned" nerves and Harvard neurologist G. Robert DeLong states that they demonstrate an "unusual intensity of focus." These are strong and healthy qualities for writers but dangerous qualities for manic depressives.

CONCLUSION

Creativity can stem from mental disorders, but mental disorders do not usually stem from creativity. There is a mysterious relationship between art, imagination, creativity, and manic depression, and it should not be overlooked. Depressing or chaotic works of art or writings may hint a possible problem that could lead to suicide. Therefore, artists may pragmatically offer early warning signals to concerned friends or doctors.

IMPLICATIONS

One percent of the population is affected directly by manic depression, and countless others are affected by it indirectly. With most mental illnesses, the percentages are higher in low income, poverty-stricken areas, but this is not true for manic depression. Its rate is much higher in the upper classes of economic and social standing. This also means that much of what we read comes from brilliant, but troubled minds. It should be noted that many diagnosed manic depressives are stabilized on medication and lead normal, healthy, and productive lives.