{"id":35823,"date":"2011-05-11T13:12:26","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T17:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/35823\/mental-illness-related-above-average-creativity\/"},"modified":"2011-05-11T13:12:26","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T17:12:26","slug":"mental-illness-related-above-average-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/35823\/mental-illness-related-above-average-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Mental Illness Related to Above-Average Creativity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay, I must be really starving for blog topics if I am posting my school papers as blogs.\u00a0 Just finished this little ditty below… <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Points of interest not included in the paper:<\/span><\/p>\n

The highest correlation between mental illness and high creativity was found in poets.<\/span><\/p>\n

The article I reference in footnote #4 was utter bullshit.\u00a0 It falsely stated that symptoms described in the DSM-IV were considered standalone illnesses which are going to be used by Obama and his minions to use mental health issues to imprison people for owning guns.\u00a0 No one is trying to say that free thinking and creativity are\u00a0 mental illnesses.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

_______________
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The point of this paper is to examine how mental illness is related to higher-creativity.\u00a0 This is not an issue that can be easily presented in terms of \u201cpros\u201d and \u201ccons\u201d, i.e., whether or not there is a relationship.\u00a0 The sources I have found seem to indicate to all agree that the two are related [1<\/a>] [2<\/a>] [3<\/a>].\u00a0 Higher levels of creativity are found more frequently in people who have also been diagnosed with mental health issues when compared to those who have not, and possessing greater creative potential correlates to more susceptibility to mental illness.\u00a0 Several studies have documented these relationships. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nWhat is not as clear is if the relationship is causal or just corollary.\u00a0 Does mental illness facilitate creativity?\u00a0 Does creativity trigger mental illness?\u00a0 Do these two aspects of the mind exist independently of one another and those who have a predisposition for one are simply more likely to also have a predisposition for the other?\u00a0 These are the issues where the experts disagree. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n\"\"In addition, the existence of higher creativity has been incorporated into diagnostic criteria for certain conditions in the DSM-IV.\u00a0 Critics of the manual and those who hold the opinion that mental illness is being over-diagnosed use this stated correlation as evidence of the pathologization of personality traits.\u00a0 As these critics state, if Mozart were born today, \u201che would be diagnosed with ADD and medicated into a barren normality.\u201d<\/em>[4<\/a>]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nOf the research I reviewed, I found that of Megatulski <\/a>to be most compelling.\u00a0 She cited studies which examined the genetic pre-disposition for susceptibility to bipolar disorder with the hypothesized existence of a genetic origin of higher creativity.\u00a0 These studies showed that not only was there a correlation between bipolar disorder and creativity, but also that the close relatives of those with bipolar disorder (who were not exhibiting symptoms of mental illness themselves, but were genetically very similar) scored higher in measurements of creative disposition when compared to a control group.\u00a0 This genetic factor makes the question of causality moot.\u00a0 Mental illness does allow for creativity nor does creativity cause mental illness.\u00a0 Megatulski notes: \u201cThe coexistence of creativity accompanied by manic depression, whether expressed in bipolar patients or not expressed in their predisposed family members, suggests that a third factor, yet unidentified, may be orchestrating the expression of the two.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nByrd <\/a>proposes one such orchestrating factor called Latent Inhibition (LI), defined as “the capacity to screen from conscious awareness stimuli previously experienced as irrelevant”. High levels of LI inversely correlates to creativity.\u00a0 We have also found that low levels of LI indicates a greater susceptibility to mental illness. I might disagree with Byrd in regards to the significance of conscious awareness in it\u2019s role in the creative process, I would agree that the act of releasing inhibitions is critical in the creative process for most people. If those with low levels of LI (which itself may be either genetically determined or conditioned in human development) are both better artists, poets and creators as well as being more prone to mental illness, here we find a possible explanation for the link between the two. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nIn future career as a counselor,\u00a0 I will undoubtedly encounter co-occurring disorders amongst my clients.\u00a0 This brief examination of the connection between creativity and mental illness in some ways de-stigmatizes the latter.\u00a0 Although I will not have the credentials or qualifications to specifically treat the sometimes debilitating symptoms of mental illness, what I will be able to help clients with is how they themselves view their own conditions.\u00a0 I can imagine talking to client and noting that he or she has bipolar disorder, depression or ADHD.\u00a0 What then does that mean?\u00a0 Is it a cursed affliction or is an expression of a different way of thinking that actually has some positive benefits as well?\u00a0 Taking the latter point of view would undoubtedly help some clients see their circumstances more positively and improve their quality of life. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, I must be really starving for blog topics if I am posting my school papers as blogs.\u00a0 Just finished this little ditty below… Points of interest not included in the paper: The highest correlation between mental illness and high creativity was found in poets. The article I reference in footnote #4 was utter bullshit.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,28,10,29],"tags":[246,1818,81,3378,4],"class_list":["post-35823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-health","category-life","category-poems","tag-art-2","tag-creativity","tag-joko","tag-mental-illness","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}