Correlation Between Creativity and Mental Illness

Today in class, there were quite a few people that were curious about Woolf's suicide, and a handful of people gave their own theories/speculations as to why she took her own life. Many people seemed to have attributed it to the fact that her life was not the most pleasant; however, as I mentioned in class, mental illness does not discriminate and can happen to anyone, regardless of their environment and experiences.

As a person with mental illnesses (a creative person, no less), I've done a lot of research over the years to learn more about my condition. What I've found is this: mental illness is an uncontrollable genetic disorder caused by changes in the brain's structure. This includes the idea that the brain is not producing enough/producing too much of the "hormonal" chemicals; most commonly dopamine and seratonin. There are also theories that people with mental illnesses may have imbalances within the neurotransmitters in their brains--meaning they literally have different mindsets and thought processes than the average person. I've included visuals below.



  

That being said, there are a number of speculations as to why there is, in fact, a link between creativity and mental illnesses.

"Psychotic individuals are said to display a capacity to see the world in a novel and original way, literally, to see things that others cannot.

[....]

A study by psychologist J. Philippe Rushton found creativity to correlate with intelligence and psychoticism. Another study found creativity to be greater in schizotypal than in either normal or schizophrenic individuals. While divergent thinking was associated with bilateral activation of the prefrontal cortex, schizotypal individuals were found to have much greater activation of their right prefrontal cortex. This study hypothesizes that such individuals are better at accessing both hemispheres, allowing them to make novel associations at a faster rate. In agreement with this hypothesis, ambidexterity is also associated with schizotypal and schizophrenic individuals. Three recent studies by Mark Batey and Adrian Furnham have demonstrated the relationships between schizotypal and hypomanic personality and several different measures of creativity.

Particularly strong links have been identified between creativity and mood disorders, particularly manic-depressive disorder (a.k.a. bipolar disorder) and depressive disorder (a.k.a. unipolar disorder). In Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, Kay Redfield Jamison summarizes studies of mood-disorder rates in writers, poets and artists. She also explores research that identifies mood disorders in such famous writers and artists as Ernest Hemingway (who shot himself after electroconvulsive treatment), Virginia Woolf (who drowned herself when she felt a depressive episode coming on), composer Robert Schumann (who died in a mental institution), and even the famed visual artist Michelangelo."

If anyone is interested, you can read up on this theory here.