Creativity and Bipolar Disorder Essay -- Bipolar Creative Creativity E

Creativity and Bipolar Disorder History has always held a place for the "mad genius", the kind who, in a bout of euphoric fervor, rattles off revolutionary ideas, incomprehensible to the general population, yet invaluable to the population's evolution into a better adapted species over time. Is this link between creativity and mental illness one of coincidence, or are the two actually related? If related, does heightened creative behavior alter the brain's neurochemistry such that one becomes more prone to a mental illness like bipolar disorder? Does bipolar disorder cause alterations in neurochemistry in the brain that increase creative behavior through elevated capacity for thought and expression? Is this link the result of some third factor which causes both of the two effects? Centuries of literature and innumerable studies have supported strong cases relating creativity--particularly in the arts, music and literature--to bipolar disorder. Both creativity and bipolar disorder can be attributed to a genetic predisposition and environmental influences. Biographical studies, diagnostic and psychological studies and family studies provide different aspects for examining this relationship. A 1949 study of 113 German artists, writers, architects, and composers was one of the first to undertake an extensive, in-depth investigation of both artists and their relatives. Although two-thirds of the 113 artists and writers were "psychically normal," there were more suicides and "insane and neurotic" individuals in the artistic group than could be expected in the general population, with the highest rates of psychiatric abnormality found in poets (50%) and musicians (38%). (1) Many other similar tests revealed th... ...ay Redfield. Touched with Fire. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993. 2) Journal of Memetics, an article addressing creativity, evolution and mental illness. http://jomemit.cfpm.org/1997/vol1/preti_a&miotto_p.html 3)Bipolar Disorder, an educational resource about bipolar disorder. http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:Hac5G2R_ezsC:faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bipolar.html+serotonin+bipolar+disorder&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 4) Manic-Depressive & Depressive Association of Boston, an article discussing the genetics of bipolar disorder. http://www.mddaboston.org/lect020900.html 5) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, an online version of the resource book. http://www.psychologynet.org/bipolar1.html 6) From Neurons to Neighborhoods, a book that addresses early development of the brain. http://books.nap.edu/books/0309069882/html/187.html#pagetop