General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe link between intelligence, creativity and mental illness. Good stuff.
Got this from a thread started by BainsBane
http://schoolgirlforreal.hubpages.com/hub/A-List-of-Famous-People-Today-With-Mental-Illnesses
Creativity interlinks with Illness
One of the really interesting and cool things about mental illness is that certain types of illnesses, mainly bipolar gives a person a creative edge, though other illnesses go hand in hand with highly intelligent people such as Professor John Nash, who won the Nobel Prize for mathematics, for one. I don't think that you have to be mentally ill to be genius but it seems mental illness and genius often do go hand in hand. And that is why I write this article on famous people who have contributed so greatly to science and art, and music while yet dealing with an illness and why if they have something valuable to offer, anyone can. It makes so much sense to me to shed light on the fact that no one needs to be ashamed. There is no one who is exempt from possibly "contracting" this invisible disease! Read on and share this page.
"It takes a little bit of crazy to make a genius." ~Anonymous
The contributions which the following people have given to the world will not forgotten, nor should future Abraham Lincolns, or Jim Carreys, or Charles Dickens be discouraged.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/17/creativity-mental-illness-bipolar-disorder_n_1972391.html
Creativity Tied To Mental Illnesses Like Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia In New Swedish Study
Creative types are thought to be more likely to suffer from mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. A new large-scale study of the Swedish population helps confirm this link.
Last year, researchers at the Karolinska Institutet near Stockholm found that families with a history of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia were more likely to produce artists and scientists. They built on this evidence in a new study, published this month in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, which covers a larger population sample and a wider scope of psychiatric diagnoses.
The researchers used 40-years' worth of data from Sweden's health registry, looking at the anonymous records of almost 1.2 million patients and their relatives. They found certain mental illness in particular bipolar disorder are more common among artists and scientists, from dancers and photographers to researchers and authors.
More at link:
unblock
(52,243 posts)unblock
(52,243 posts)i think this was a scientific american article like maybe 20-25 years ago. anyway it's a correlation cluster that some have suggested is coincidence and other have suggested has something to do with brain hemisphere development, specialization, etc.; and some thinking some of these things are causally related and some are not.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)Then you have an existential crisis.
Seeing and feeling deeply and being imaginative means that many people will never understand any of the music or art you produce, or why you have to do your creative thing.
When people are extremely conservative and conformist, they have no idea why anyone should be different, and they fear anyone who is different. They think any one who is not exactly like them is BAD.
Kinda like people who hate hippies.
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."--John Lennon
GreenPartyVoter
(72,377 posts)pop fiction, not deep thinker stuff. But still very well-received.)
Whisp
(24,096 posts)WiffenPoof
(2,404 posts)...with some of this.
My mother, an artist and full-blown bi-polar has rubbed off on me genetically.
After years and years of anxiety disorders and two major bouts of depression, I was finally diagnosed with Hypo-Mania. Sounds awful, doesn't it? It is actually a minor form of bi-polar disorder. I hated that "label" thinking I was "damaged" goods...a broken machine.
Years later, with a new wife and some meds, I have come to terms with my so-called malady. During this time, one of my doctors suggested a book to me called "Key To Genius". It is basically a list of people in history that have suffered from some form of manic-depression (bi-polar) and their contributions to humanity...whether it be in the sciences or art, politics, etc.
This single book went further in convincing me that at least at some level, my disorder was a blessing...a unique gift. Of course, in keeping with the balance of nature, it did not come without considerable suffering.
I often think of the song "Vincent" when the issue of bi-polar comes up.
No, I'm no genius. But I have a better perspective on my existence and why I have not always fit in to society's norms.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Paige
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Thank god so many of us do not "fit"....what a dull place it would be!
wildeyed
(11,243 posts)saying we are a weird combination of bi-polar, alcoholism and ridiculously high IQs, which means holidays are never boring. But I guess maybe there are more families out there like that than I knew!
Read about Dabrowski's Overexcitablities and Positive Disintegration for an interesting take on this kind of thing.