Creativity & Mental Illness
Content
www.medscape.com
Authors and Disclosures
Author(s)
Michael T. Compton, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Atlanta, Georgia Disclosure: Michael T. Compton, MD, MPH, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
From Medscape Psychiatry
Newton, Einstein, and a Gaggle of Writers
Michael T. Compton, MD, MPH Posted: 06/17/2011
Linking Creativity With Mental Illness
Editor's Note: As the third in a 3-part series on highlights from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Honolulu, Hawaii, below Dr. Michael Compton explores the connection between mental illness and genius and creativity. Mental Illness and Creativity: Introduction In Lecture 24, on Tuesday, May 17, Dr. Nancy C. Andreasen (Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine) spoke on "A Journey into Chaos: Creativity and the Unconscious." [1] In this presentation on the connection between genius/creativity and mental illness, she spoke about having interviewed the renowned playwright Neil Simon, who indicated that he "slipped into a state that is apart from reality" during his most productive and creative periods. He also said "I don't write consciously--it is as if the muse sits on my shoulder." Similar examples of the creative process have come from other forms of art (eg, Mozart, who saw his music as a 3-dimensional matrix), as well as from science and mathematics, such as Henri Poincaré. These observations have clearly influenced Dr. Andreasen's work. What Does Chaos Theory Tell Us? In her early PET studies, Dr. Andreasen realized that the usual control condition was a REST (Random Episodic Silent Thought) state, which is actually a very interesting state that may represent the unconscious, the source for creativity, dreams, and religious experiences. Areas of increased activity during REST, this state that mimics the unconscious, include the inferior and superior frontal cortex, and inferior and superior temporal cortex, or essentially all of the major association cortices of the brain (those parts that give meaning to print on a page and things coming in from the external world via the senses). These association areas were recently renamed the "default mode network" and are now known to represent areas accounting for the majority of the brain's metabolic consumption. Dr. Andreasen likened this REST or default mode network to self-organizing systems described by chaos theory within the field of physics. Such systems -- exemplified by the flocking of birds, schooling of fish, changes in ecosystems due to climate change, and variations in the global economy related to changes in geopolitics or natural resources -- consist of a bunch of parts that are organizing the whole, with no one part or executive in charge. As such, their movements are very difficult to predict and are not linear. In sum, the whole is greater than
the constituent parts; the parts are what organize continuously to create something new. Control is not centralized; it is distributed throughout the whole system. Dr. Andreasen reviewed these tenets of chaos theory to suggest that creativity as a function of the brain is similar. Association cortices are freely communicating back and forth without being subject to reality principles; thus, the creative process cannot be localized -- it is an emergent process.
Data From Family Studies
In her studies of the connection between genius/creativity and mental illness, Dr. Andreasen initially conducted structured interviews, using her own diagnostic criteria, of subjects with exceptional artistic creativity and their first-degree family members. She used specific criteria to define their level of creativity. Beginning this work in the early 1970s, she recruited 30 well-known writers during about a 15-year period. Her original hypothesis was that the first-degree relatives would have an elevated rate of schizophrenia. Instead, she found significant differences in terms of having any bipolar disorder, any mood disorder, or alcoholism (in comparing the writers to controls); furthermore, the relatives had increased rates of mood disorders and higher levels of creativity compared with controls. Thus, the highly creative and productive writers and their biological relatives appear to have a shared diathesis that predisposes to both mood disorder and enhanced creativity. In the second Iowa study of creative genius, Dr. Andreasen has added functional magnetic imaging and DNA collection. Newton, Einstein, and a Genetic Justification for Schizophrenia? Regarding the link between creativity and schizophrenia, Dr. Andreasen pointed out the interesting observation that the incidence and prevalence of psychotic disorders has evidently remained constant over time and is roughly the same around the world. Furthermore, researchers have documented a high heritability (70%-80%) based on studies of monozygotic and dizygotic twins. Yet, those affected with schizophrenia rarely marry and usually do not have children. So, why do such disorders persist in the population? One explanation may lie in the connection between genius/creativity and serious mental illnesses. This connection is exemplified in the stories of some of the most important discoveries of modern science, one of which is Newtonian mechanics. Newton was known to have had a psychotic break at about age 40; he lived alone, had no children, and likely had unusual interests and beliefs. Einstein's relativity is another major discovery, and Einstein was known to have schizotypal traits, be aloof, have difficulty relating to others, and to have had a son with schizophrenia. "Does the illness (or carrying the diathesis for it) confer an ability to perceive and think in a highly original way?" Dr. Andreasen asked, "To perceive new and different relationships?" Creativity is a mental gift that permits people to perceive in original and novel ways -- to see things that others cannot. It is shared across disciplines such as mathematics and literature. It makes its possessor "different," and sometimes vulnerable to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or mood disorders. It is possible that schizophrenia persists in the gene pool because of its association with creativity and genius.
References
1. Andreasen NC. A Journey into Chaos: Creativity and the Unconscious. Proceedings and abstracts from the 164th American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting. Honolulu, HI; May 14-18, 2011. Lecture 24.
Medscape Psychiatry © 2011 WebMD, LLC
Authors and Disclosures
Author(s)
Michael T. Compton, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Atlanta, Georgia Disclosure: Michael T. Compton, MD, MPH, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
From Medscape Psychiatry
Newton, Einstein, and a Gaggle of Writers
Michael T. Compton, MD, MPH Posted: 06/17/2011
Linking Creativity With Mental Illness
Editor's Note: As the third in a 3-part series on highlights from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Honolulu, Hawaii, below Dr. Michael Compton explores the connection between mental illness and genius and creativity. Mental Illness and Creativity: Introduction In Lecture 24, on Tuesday, May 17, Dr. Nancy C. Andreasen (Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine) spoke on "A Journey into Chaos: Creativity and the Unconscious." [1] In this presentation on the connection between genius/creativity and mental illness, she spoke about having interviewed the renowned playwright Neil Simon, who indicated that he "slipped into a state that is apart from reality" during his most productive and creative periods. He also said "I don't write consciously--it is as if the muse sits on my shoulder." Similar examples of the creative process have come from other forms of art (eg, Mozart, who saw his music as a 3-dimensional matrix), as well as from science and mathematics, such as Henri Poincaré. These observations have clearly influenced Dr. Andreasen's work. What Does Chaos Theory Tell Us? In her early PET studies, Dr. Andreasen realized that the usual control condition was a REST (Random Episodic Silent Thought) state, which is actually a very interesting state that may represent the unconscious, the source for creativity, dreams, and religious experiences. Areas of increased activity during REST, this state that mimics the unconscious, include the inferior and superior frontal cortex, and inferior and superior temporal cortex, or essentially all of the major association cortices of the brain (those parts that give meaning to print on a page and things coming in from the external world via the senses). These association areas were recently renamed the "default mode network" and are now known to represent areas accounting for the majority of the brain's metabolic consumption. Dr. Andreasen likened this REST or default mode network to self-organizing systems described by chaos theory within the field of physics. Such systems -- exemplified by the flocking of birds, schooling of fish, changes in ecosystems due to climate change, and variations in the global economy related to changes in geopolitics or natural resources -- consist of a bunch of parts that are organizing the whole, with no one part or executive in charge. As such, their movements are very difficult to predict and are not linear. In sum, the whole is greater than
the constituent parts; the parts are what organize continuously to create something new. Control is not centralized; it is distributed throughout the whole system. Dr. Andreasen reviewed these tenets of chaos theory to suggest that creativity as a function of the brain is similar. Association cortices are freely communicating back and forth without being subject to reality principles; thus, the creative process cannot be localized -- it is an emergent process.
Data From Family Studies
In her studies of the connection between genius/creativity and mental illness, Dr. Andreasen initially conducted structured interviews, using her own diagnostic criteria, of subjects with exceptional artistic creativity and their first-degree family members. She used specific criteria to define their level of creativity. Beginning this work in the early 1970s, she recruited 30 well-known writers during about a 15-year period. Her original hypothesis was that the first-degree relatives would have an elevated rate of schizophrenia. Instead, she found significant differences in terms of having any bipolar disorder, any mood disorder, or alcoholism (in comparing the writers to controls); furthermore, the relatives had increased rates of mood disorders and higher levels of creativity compared with controls. Thus, the highly creative and productive writers and their biological relatives appear to have a shared diathesis that predisposes to both mood disorder and enhanced creativity. In the second Iowa study of creative genius, Dr. Andreasen has added functional magnetic imaging and DNA collection. Newton, Einstein, and a Genetic Justification for Schizophrenia? Regarding the link between creativity and schizophrenia, Dr. Andreasen pointed out the interesting observation that the incidence and prevalence of psychotic disorders has evidently remained constant over time and is roughly the same around the world. Furthermore, researchers have documented a high heritability (70%-80%) based on studies of monozygotic and dizygotic twins. Yet, those affected with schizophrenia rarely marry and usually do not have children. So, why do such disorders persist in the population? One explanation may lie in the connection between genius/creativity and serious mental illnesses. This connection is exemplified in the stories of some of the most important discoveries of modern science, one of which is Newtonian mechanics. Newton was known to have had a psychotic break at about age 40; he lived alone, had no children, and likely had unusual interests and beliefs. Einstein's relativity is another major discovery, and Einstein was known to have schizotypal traits, be aloof, have difficulty relating to others, and to have had a son with schizophrenia. "Does the illness (or carrying the diathesis for it) confer an ability to perceive and think in a highly original way?" Dr. Andreasen asked, "To perceive new and different relationships?" Creativity is a mental gift that permits people to perceive in original and novel ways -- to see things that others cannot. It is shared across disciplines such as mathematics and literature. It makes its possessor "different," and sometimes vulnerable to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or mood disorders. It is possible that schizophrenia persists in the gene pool because of its association with creativity and genius.
References
1. Andreasen NC. A Journey into Chaos: Creativity and the Unconscious. Proceedings and abstracts from the 164th American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting. Honolulu, HI; May 14-18, 2011. Lecture 24.
Medscape Psychiatry © 2011 WebMD, LLC
