The link between creativity and mental illnesses

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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.

What exactly is creativity? To be creative is to understand and connect the small details of our experiences, both good and bad (creative something). Creativity involves a person using his or her original ideas to create something. Artists such as poets, writers, painters, designers, and more use creativity on a regular basis. They use creativity to come up with new ideas and create original works of art. A poet would use his or her creative abilities to write and produce a poem just like a painter would use creativity to paint a painting.

There is a magnitude of research put behind trying to find the link between creativity and...

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... C. “The Door That Leads Into Madness: Eastern European Poets and Mental Illness.” Creativity Research Journal 17.1 (2005): 99-103. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Shaddock, David. “My Terrible Muse: Cohesion and Fragmentation in the Creative Self.” Psychoanalytic Inquiry 26.3 (2006): 421-441. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Tremblay, C. H., Grosskopf, S. and Yang, Ke. Brainstorm: Occupational choice, bipolar illness and creativity. Economics and Human Biology, published online January 13, 2010.

Uhland, Vicky. “The Picture of Health.” Momentum 6.3 (2013): 42-45. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Weisberg, Robert W. “GENIUS AND MADNESS? A Quasi-Experimental Test of the Hypothesis That Manic-Depression Increases Creativity.” Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell) 5.6 (1994): 361-367. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

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