Creativity and Psychopathology
Recent studies show that your chances of having a mental illness may have something to do with your profession. This is an example of a subject that can often be read about in popular magazines such as Vogue, Time, or Newsweek. I’ve never really paid much attention to these articles because something about them makes me feel uneasy. The reader must remember that the magazines have more than one goal. Not only are they trying to inform readers, but they are also trying to sell magazines. I recently read an article in Psychology Today entitled Troubled Talent. It reports the results of a study on the prevalence of mental illness among various professions. I will compare this article with an actual scientific study conducted by the same researcher on the same topic to find out why such articles in leisure magazines make me so uncomfortable.
In Psychology Today, Jamie Talan reports on a study by Arnold Ludwig M.D. The article gives the reader the impression that mental illness is linked with creative professions, but that the type of creativity is what is important. By providing Dr. Ludwigs’ results and conclusions, it reports that the prevalence of mental illness is present in both artistically and scientifically creative professions, but is much higher in artistically creative professions. In my review of this article, I’ve found that it lacks information important to understanding the study’s results. Without this information, readers cannot fully understand the implications, and can be easily misled.
In order to fully understand a study’s results and implications, it is important to know what the sample is, the design of the study, and how it was performed. Talon’s article does inc...
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...achievement and mental illness. I understood that the study was not perfect and could not be generalized to everyone, but the results were significant.
Now that I have explored the strengths and weaknesses of both articles, I understand why I am uncomfortable with popular reports of scientific studies. Popular reports do not supply all the information needed for the reader to really understand them. The information they report is true, but they leave out a lot of important detail. It is hard to tell whether this is intentional or not. Reports appeal to more people if they remain general and if they only supply information people want to hear. The consumer should be careful of this. If one reads an article claiming that eating cabbage every day can cure depression, he shouldn’t be surprised if he changes his diet only to find that his mood has not changed.
In response to the question set, I will go into detail of the study, consisting of the background, main hypotheses, as well the aims, procedure and results gathered from the study; explaining the four research methods chosen to investigate, furthering into the three methods actually tested.
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is a psychopathology that affects approximately 1% of the population. (1) Unlike unipolar disorder, also known as major affective disorder or depression, bipolar disorder is characterized by vacillating between periods of elation (either mania or hypomania) and depression. (1, 2) Bipolar disorder is also not an illness that remedies itself over time; people affected with manic depression are manic-depressives for their entire lives. (2, 3) For this reason, researchers have been struggling to, first, more quickly diagnose the onset of bipolar disorder in a patient and, second, to more effectively treat it. (4) As more and more studies have been performed on this disease, the peculiar occurrence between extreme creativity and manic depression have been uncovered, leaving scientists to deal with yet another puzzling aspect of the psychopathology. (5)
...the data did not involve member checking thus reducing its robustness and enable to exclude researcher’s bias. Although a constant comparative method was evident in the discussion which improved the plausibility of the final findings. Themes identified were well corroborated but not declared was anytime a point of theoretical saturation Thus, the published report was found to be particularly strong in the area of believability and dependability; less strong in the area of transferability; and is weak in the area of credibility and confirmability, although, editorial limitations can be a barrier in providing a detailed account (Craig & Smyth, 2007; Ryan, Coughlan, & Cronin, 2007).
beyond the bounds of what already is known or deductible by reason . . .
In this day and age anyone can write anything and put it on the internet for everyone to read. You have to be diligent in separating fact from fiction. If you are skeptical you may have to do your own research to see where the information originated. Do not believe everything you read just because it states it was from a study as it may not be reliable or truthful. Both of these studies had interesting information, however since they both were lacking sufficient data it was hard to determine if the studies were completely honest and adequate or not.
History has always held a place for the "mad genius", the kind who, in a bout of euphoric fervor, rattles off revolutionary ideas, incomprehensible to the general population, yet invaluable to the population's evolution into a better adapted species over time. Is this link between creativity and mental illness one of coincidence, or are the two actually related? If related, does heightened creative behavior alter the brain's neurochemistry such that one becomes more prone to a mental illness like bipolar disorder? Does bipolar disorder cause alterations in neurochemistry in the brain that increase creative behavior through elevated capacity for thought and expression? Is this link the result of some third factor which causes both of the two effects?
For generations creative people have dealt with the stigma of mental disorder often attributed to them. The "mad" scientist, frenzied artist and profoundly intense writer; all have been common judgments of these professions for years. Despite the prevalence of these beliefs, psychological studies in this field have been sparse and often inadequate. To fill this investigative void, Ruth Richards and Dennis Kinney, Nancy Andreasen, and Kay Jamison developed studies to examine the link between creativity and mood disorders more completely and accurately.
Ken Robinson once said, “Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it 's produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.” Creativity is more than just having artistic talent. According to Merriam- Webster Dictionary creativity is defined as, “the ability to make new things or think of new ideas.” A person can be creative without making a single piece of artwork. Creativity was one characteristic that Stalin and Hitler had in common. Both had artistic abilities and talent as well as possessing the ability to think creatively. Hitler and Stalin had artistic talent in their youth, however, Hitler continued to use his artistic talent and creativity while gaining power.
The articles, published after 1996, contain varied methods of research attainment, but share similarities such as being a self-survey, having a small sample size, and being
Creativity is one of the mission of a teacher in every age, and discipline. As he may be creative to motivate students, he has to generate creativity in his pupils. In this way, understanding the relation between the neurobiology of creativity and its cognition is useful to every teacher.
The father of quantitative analysis, Rene Descartes, thought that in order to know and understand something, you have to measure it (Kover, 2008). Quantitative research has two main types of sampling used, probabilistic and purposive. Probabilistic sampling is when there is equal chance of anyone within the studied population to be included. Purposive sampling is used when some benchmarks are used to replace the discrepancy among errors. The primary collection of data is from tests or standardized questionnaires, structured interviews, and closed-ended observational protocols. The secondary means for data collection includes official documents. In this study, the data is analyzed to test one or more expressed hypotheses. Descriptive and inferential analyses are the two types of data analysis used and advance from descriptive to inferential. The next step in the process is data interpretation, and the goal is to give meaning to the results in regards to the hypothesis the theory was derived from. Data interpretation techniques used are generalization, theory-driven, and interpretation of theory (Gelo, Braakmann, Benetka, 2008). The discussion should bring together findings and put them into context of the framework, guiding the study (Black, Gray, Airasain, Hector, Hopkins, Nenty, Ouyang, n.d.). The discussion should include an interpretation of the results; descriptions of themes, trends, and relationships; meanings of the results, and the limitations of the study. In the conclusion, one wants to end the study by providing a synopsis and final comments. It should include a summary of findings, recommendations, and future research (Black, Gray, Airasain, Hector, Hopkins, Nenty, Ouyang, n.d.). Deductive reasoning is used in studies...
There lies a link between creativity and madness and the association stems from the need of an unconventional thought process to spark creativity and biological factors surrounding the brains of both creative individuals, and mentally ill patients.
Often, high intelligence and creativity are associated with mental illness. One study showed that spirituality and learning were ranked as higher priorities for people with psychological disorders. This study also found that those that have lived with a mental disorder valued creativity, beauty, curiosity, and gratitude higher than people who had not experienced mental illness (Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2006). Clearly those with mental illness should not be stigmatized and kept out of the work force. Their strength of character, determination, and commitment to self-awareness and wellness give them a uniquely valuable
The link between creativity and mental illnesses is a topic that has been debated for centuries. The great philosophers Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle all discussed the connection as well. Even in today’s society, there is an ever-present stereotype that creative individuals (i.e. poets, writers, artists, designers, etc.) suffer from bouts of depression, mania, or mental illnesses. It is an age-old question: does depression/mania effect creativity? There is a lot of evidence that both supports and denies the truth behind this question. Some researchers believe the link between depression and creativity is strictly genetic while others believe there is none at all. The argument for this discussion will mostly support the argument that creativity is absolutely a result, cause, and remedy of mania. The manic-depressive illnesses discussed in this debate will mostly include bipolar disorder, mania, and depression. However, there are a lot of factors that play a role in this debate. To discuss, we must first define creativity, the creative process, manic-depressive illnesses, and rumination.
There is an overwhelming amount of evidence of the human race realtion to, creativity and that we all have an interest in education. Education is so important to us because it is the only thing we can use for this unpredicted future. All children have talents, but the education system crushes our creativity because we are taught to think a certain way. Due to the fear of being wrong has led children to no longer be creative which is why many adults lose that “capacity” to be able to be creative. The very few children who are allowed to continue using their creativity tend to not to be as dissatisfied their lives as much as other adults who were not able to pursue passions they truly enjoyed.