Mental Illness and Creative Genius PDF

Mental Illness and Creative Genius **^1^**The association of mental illness with creative genius goes back to ancient times. The Greeks considered creative but troubled geniuses to be "touched by the gods." The list of troubled artists throughout history is both long and familiar. It includes write...

Mental Illness and Creative Genius **^1^**The association of mental illness with creative genius goes back to ancient times. The Greeks considered creative but troubled geniuses to be "touched by the gods." The list of troubled artists throughout history is both long and familiar. It includes writes such as Hemingway and Tolstoy, painters such as Van Gogh and Gauguin, and musicians like Mozart and Kurt Cobain. Some artists report their mental illness was crucial to their creative process while others cursed their struggles. Van Gogh, in a letter to his brother, writes, "Oh, if I could have worked without this accursed disease - what things I might have done." **^2^**The scientific community is divided on what role, if any, mental illness plays in creativity. Several important early studies tried to establish this link. In the 1970s, neuroscientist Nancy Andreasen conducted a study of 30 well-known writers and found that 80% of them had experienced a major episode of mood disorder, or emotional struggles, compared with 30% of her control group. A subsequent study of 47 famous British writers and artists reported a lower, but still significant percentage reporting mood disorders. **^3^**These early studies were on a small scale and relied on interviews and self-reported behavior. More recent studies have been much larger and more scientifically rigorous. In these studies, the connection found between creativity and mental illness has been weaker, yet, the authors argue, still important and worth pursuing. These studies suggest a genetic basis for both creativity and some forms of mental illness, pointing to a possible connection. Commenting on one of the largest studies, neurologist Dr. Kari Stefansson observed in a 2015 interview in *The Guardian*, "Often, when people are creating something new, they end up straddling... sanity and insanity." **^4^**Nevertheless, other members of the scientific community are skeptical of the association between creativity and mental illness, calling this an outdated 19^th^ century idea. They stress the fact that most mentally ill individuals are not particularly creative, and most creative artists are in good mental health. Furthermore, they point out that creative artists who do suffer from mental illness usually work more effectively when their conditions are treated and controlled. They argue that any connection between mental illness and creativity may be the result of purely practical factors. People who don't fit in with society and tend to think and act differently, perhaps even enough to be labeled mentally ill, may be attracted to a life in the arts, where their behavior is more likely to be accepted, or at least tolerated. **^5^**Still, even those who reject the idea of any direct or causal connection admit that creative artists and those who suffer from some forms of mental illness may share some characteristics. One recent study that compared these two groups revealed an interesting result. Both populations showed high measures of one specific type of behavior: the inability to stay focused on a task. In other words, they had difficulty performing a chore - such as remembering a sequence of numbers - when they were presented with other information on a screen at the same time. They could not stop themselves from paying attention to this additional information. Psychologist Barry Kaufman summarized the findings, "It seems that the key to creative thinking is opening up the floodgates and letting in as much information as possible. Because you never know: sometimes the strangest associations can turn into the most productively creative ideas." **^6^**As the results of these studies emerge, the scientific community will continue to debate the connection between mental health and creative thinking. In the public imagination, however, the idea persists that the creative genius spans sanity and insanity. **Response** -- Choose **[one]** of the two questions for a response. Use your past experiences and knowledge of the article to help you. a. Based on the article and your experiences, what do you think is the source of creativity? Is it biological or emotional? Why? b. Based on the article and your experiences describe someone you know who is creative. Does this person support the idea that creative people have emotional problems or not? How so?