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Sheri L. Johnson, Ph.D.Greg Murray, Ph.D.
Eric A. Youngstrom, Ph.D.
Creativity and Bipolar Disorder:
A review of the evidence
Kay Jamison (1993). Touched with Fire. NY, NY: Free Press.
Hans Christian Andersen Honore de Balzac William Faulkner (H) F. Scott Fitzgerald (H) Graham Greene Ernest Hemingway (H, S) Hermann Hesse (H, SA) Henrik Ibsen Henry James William James Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
Joseph Conrad (SA) Charles Dickens Isak Dinesen (SA) Ralph Waldo Emerson Herman Melville Eugene O'Neill (H, SA) Francis Parkman John Ruskin (H) Mary Shelley Robert Louis Stevenson August Strindberg Leo Tolstoy Tennessee Williams (H) Virginia Woolf (H, S) Emile Zola
Authors believed to have manic episodes (from Jamison, 1993)
Musicians and composers believed to have manic episodes
Anton ArenskyHector Berlioz (SA)George Frederic HandelGustav HolstCharles IvesGustav MahlerModest MussorgskySergey Rachmaninoff
Robert Schumann (H, SA)Peter TchaikovskyIrving Berlin (H)Noel CowardCharles Mingus (H)Charles Parker (H, SA)Cole Porter (H)Kurt Cobain, musician (Nirvana)
(S 1994)
Authors believed to have mood disorders
William BlakeGeorge Gordon, Lord ByronHarley ColeridgeSamuel Taylor ColeridgeEmily Dickinson - moreT.S. Eliot (H)Victor HugoSamuel JohnsonJohn Keats - MoreRobert Lowell (H)Edna St. Vincent Millay (H)
Sylvia Plath (H, S)Edgar Allan Poe (SA)Ezra Pound (H)Laura Riding (SA)Theodore Roethke (H)Percy Bysshe Shelley
- More (SA)Alfred Lord tennysonWalt Whitman - More
Artists believed to have bipolar disorder
Paul Gauguin (SA)Vincent van Gogh (H, S) Arshile Gorky (S)Edvard Munch (H)Georgia O'Keeffe (H)Jackson Pollock (H)Mark Rothko (S)
Many famous artists
have bipolar disorder.
Conclusion 1:
Does the pattern hold
up with research?
Bipolar disorder
Diagnosis
Subsyndromal symptoms mania
Family history
Other related traits:
positive affectivity
and motivation
Creativity
Creative accomplishment
eminence
Engagement in
creative activities
Evidence of creative
thought: divergent
thinking and loose
associations
Creativity
Bipolar Disorder
Study Sample Rates of mania
Ludwig, 1992 1005 recognized artists, writers, actors
8.2% had some history of mania, compared to 2.8% of non-artists
Wills, 2003 40 famous Jazz Bepop musicians
28.5% some form of mood disorder
Czeizel, 2001 Famous Hungarian poets
67.5% had some form of bipolar disorder
Jamison, 1989 47 British 18th century writers
26% elated moods, 6.5% treated for mania
Juda, 1994 113 highly creative artists
No diagnosable bipolar disorder, but 22% of offspring had bipolar spectrum traits
Biographical studies of famous artists
Biographies might be biased…
Problem
(Andreasen)
Highly prestigious writers’ workshop
43% met criteria for some form of mania:
30% bipolar II disorder13% bipolar I disorder
Iowa Writers Workshop
Problem: Eminence and fame might relate to social and
personal resources other than creativity.
Bipolar Disorder relates to creative eminence
Akiskal (2005) Artists and those in non-artistic occupations
43% of artists endorsed cyclothymic traits, compared to about 10% of controls
Colvin (1995) 40 conservatory students; 40 students in non-creative areas
GBI mania and cyclothymia scores were higher among the conservatory students
Studies of artistic samples
What about samples that aren’t famous and eminent?
AMONG CREATIVE PEOPLE, MILD FORMS OF BIPOLAR DISORDER ARE OVER-REPRESENTED.
Conclusion 2.
AMONG THOSE WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER, HOW MANY ARE CREATIVE?
A different sampling approach
Study Sample Findings
Santosa et al., 2007 Diagnosed with bipolar disorder
+
Simeonova, Chang, Strong, & Ketter, 2005
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder
+
Strong et al., Diagnosed with bipolar disorder
+
Simeonova, Chang, Strong, & Ketter, 2005
Offspring of those diagnosed with bipolar disorder
+
Rawlings & Georgiou, 2004
Students at risk for mania
+
Schuldberg, 2001 Students at risk for mania
+
Preferences for Complex Stimuli—a marker of creativity
MANY PEOPLE WITH SOME FORM OF BIPOLAR DISORDER PREFER CREATIVE STIMULI.
Conclusion 3.
DOES THAT GET EXPRESSED IN CREATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND PURSUITS?
If people prefer complex stimuli,
Tremblay et al. (2010) 13,700 participants in the ECA study (84 with DSM-IIIR diagnosis of bipolar I disorder)
Creativity ratings of occupations were higher among those with bipolar disorder(4.54) than those without bipolar disorder (3.07)
Among those with BP, how common is it to be an artist?
Lifetime accomplishment (Richards et al, 1988)
CREATIVE PURSUITS AND ACCOMPLISHMENT ARE ENHANCED AMONG THOSE WITH MILDER FORMS OF BIPOLAR DISORDER.
Conclusion 4.
Carrie McGrath
Study Sample Findings
Furnham et al. (1988) Students at risk for mania +
Schuldberg, 2001 Students at risk for mania +
Shapiro & Weisberg, 1999 Students at risk for mania +
Frantom et al., 1999 Risk for mania among graduate students and faculty studying art
No effect
Frantom et al., 1999, second analysis
Family history of mania +
Santosa et al., 2007 People diagnosed with bipolar disorder
No effect
Self-Ratings of Creativity
THOSE WITH MILDER FORMS OF BIPOLAR DISORDER SEE THEMSELVES
AS CREATIVE.
Conclusion 5.
Creativity paradigm Bipolar I disorder
Bipolar spectrum
Family members
Risk for mania
Biographical studies of eminence
+ + +
Interview studies of famously creative persons
+ + +
Lifetime creative accomplishment
- + +
Occupational choice + + + Preference for complex (creative) stimuli
+ + + +
Creative persons?
People with bipolar disorder are to be likely to be creative.Particularly true for milder and at-risk variants.
WHAT ADVANTAGES OF BIPOLAR DISORDER FUEL CREATIVITY?
Question:
Study Sample Findings Score Card
Furnham et al., 2008
Students at risk for mania
Higher scores on the Unusual Uses Test
+
Santosa et al., 2007
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder
No differences from controls on the Torrance verbal or nonverbal creativity subtests
-
Dickstein et al., 2007
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder
Poor performance on attentional set-shifting
-
Pine et al. Children diagnosed with bipolar disorder
Poor performance on attentional set-shifting
-
Measures of Divergent Thinking
CREATIVE THOUGHT IS OBSERVED IN THOSE AT RISK FOR THE DISORDER, BUT NOT WITHIN BIPOLAR I DISORDER– AT LEAST WITHOUT CONSIDERING MOOD.
Conclusion.
Study Sample + Findings
Levine et al., 1996 11 persons hospitalized for mania compared to groups with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, depression, and healthy controls
Persons who were manic were more fluent– they provided 25 word associations compared to 12 in the other groups
Henry et al., 1971 Persons with bipolar disorder tested during manic and asymptomatic periods
Fluency (word associations) tripled during mania
Kocsis et al., 1993 Persons with bipolar disorder before and after lithium discontinuation
Fluency was higher when people stopped lithium
Shaw et al., 1997 Persons with bipolar disorder before and after lithium discontinuation
Fluency was higher when people stopped lithium
Andreasen & Powers, 1975
Persons hospitalized for mania compared to those with schizophrenia, and a highly creative control sample
Creative and manic persons had high scores on a conceptual over-inclusiveness scale
Measures of Divergent Thinking And Mania
Study Sample + Findings - Findings
Levine et al., 1996 11 persons hospitalized for mania compared to groups with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, depression, and healthy controls
Persons who were manic were more fluent– they provided 25 word associations compared to 12 in the other groups
Henry et al., 1971 Persons with bipolar disorder tested during manic and asymptomatic periods
Fluency (word associations) tripled during mania
The greater fluency was entirely due to “incorrect” associations
Kocsis et al., 1993 Persons with bipolar disorder before and after lithium discontinuation
Fluency was higher when people stopped lithium
Shaw et al., 1997 Persons with bipolar disorder before and after lithium discontinuation
Fluency was higher when people stopped lithium
Andreasen & Powers, 1975
Persons hospitalized for mania compared to those with schizophrenia, and a highly creative control sample
Creative and manic persons had high scores on a conceptual over-inclusiveness scale
The broad categorizations made by the bipolar group were largely errors.
Measures of Divergent Thinking And Mania
FLUENCY IS HIGH DURING MANIA, …BUT SO ARE ERRORS.
Conclusion.
In interviews with eminent artists, high moods, energy, and less need for sleep
contribute to mania, other symptoms were not seen as helpful
Jamison (1989) Energy, enthusiasm, and less need for sleep on
the GBI correlate with self-rated creativity Other symptoms did not
Shapiro & Weisberg (1999)
Could milder mood changes be more beneficial?
Substantial evidence: bipolar disorder is related to being a “creative person.”
Particularly true of milder forms of bipolar disorder, and even vulnerability to the disorder.
Summary
Less is known about the “creative process” that supports this pattern.
Some early evidence suggests that mood plays a role.
Moods that are too high might interfere with creative accomplishments.
Happiness might bolster fluency and divergent thinking.
Summary
Questions?
Thoughts?
