Correlations between Creativity and Mental Illness Essay

Several scientific studies have demonstrated correlations between creativity and mental illness, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Even though the association between bipolar disorder and creativity first appeared in literature in the 1970s, the idea of a link between madness and genius is actually much older. It goes back at least to the time of Aristotle and the Ancient Greeks, when it was believed that creativity came from the gods, and in particular the Muses, the mythical personifications of the arts and sciences. More recently, the idea of a complete work of art emerging without conscious thought or effort was supported in the Romantic era. beliefs on the creative inspiration of the artist†¦show more content†¦The capacity to be creative, to produce new concepts, ideas, inventions, objects or art, is perhaps the most important attribute of the human brain. We know very little, however, about the nature of creativity or its neural basis. Some important ques tions include: how should we define creativity? How is it related (or unrelated) to high intelligence? What psychological processes or environmental circumstance cause creative insights to occur? How is it related to conscious and unconscious processes? What is happening at the neural level during moments of creativity? How is it related to health or illness, and especially mental illness? The first step in studying creativity is to define what it is. One of the first issues that must be addressed is the relationship between creativity and high intelligence. Since the same word, genius, is often used to refer to people who are highly creative and also to people who are highly intelligent, a common assumption is that creativity and high intelligence are the same thing. This, however, is a misconception. The ability to express and control our own emotions is important, but so is our ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others. 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