Is it touched with madness The link between

Is it touched with madness? The link between creative genius and mental illness Himalee Waidyasekera

Creativity - is it touched with madness? n “There is no great genius without some touch of madness. ” Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD), Epistles

Creativity - is it touched with madness? Conflicting views n Both scientific evidence and folklore have suggested that creative genius is often associated with mental illness n But isn’t mental illness inherently destructive?

Creativity- is it touched with madness? n n n Defining creativity Anecdotal evidence and views Proposed scientific theories Available evidence Conclusions

Van Gogh During the last one and a half years of his life he had episodes of Severe mania and Severe depression; but he also produced 300 of his best paintings

Creativity- is it touched with Speculation on this dates back to antiquity madness? n 400 BC – Plato used the term ‘enthousiasmos’ (divine madness) to describe creativity n 300 BC – Aristotle believed all creative people are melancholics and some affected by diseases of black bile The inference - creativity was associated with heightened consciousness, but not quite with mental illness n The 1800’s – The belief of association took it’s current form during the romantic era. – fashionable to be melancholic Sawyer, R. K. Explaining creativity: the science of human innovation. Oxford University Press. 2006 Berlin, R. M. Poets on Prozac: Mental illness, treatment and the creative process. John Hopkins University Press. 2008

Defining creativity……. n “Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts” n Difficult to define as it is not a scientific concept. It is a culturally and historically specific idea that changes according to time and place n Without a stringent definition it is impossible to carry out serious scientific study n In recent scientific literature, most authors have defined creativity as either processes or products that are both original and worthwhile, as denoted by public recognition or awards Waddell, C. Creativity and Mental Illness: Is There a Link? Can J Psychiatry, Vol 43, March 1998 Berlin, R. M. Poets on Prozac: Mental illness, treatment and the creative process. John Hopkins University Press. 2008

Defining creativity…….

Defining creativity……. n Authors often suggest their own definitions q Becker equated creativity with genius or intellectual giftedness q Richards - intelligence is necessary but not sufficient for creativity q q q Rothenberg defined creativity as the ability to simultaneously conceive opposites or antitheses Andreasen and Glick – stressed the trait of independence Jamison emphasized flexibility and fluency Ludwig - creativity requires both unconventionality and a drive to communicate Weisberg stressed that creativity required hard work and collaboration Waddell, C. Creativity and Mental Illness: Is There a Link? Can J Psychiatry, Vol 43, March 1998 Berlin, R. M. Poets on Prozac: Mental illness, treatment and the creative process. John Hopkins University Press. 2008

Defining creativity……. Fountain by Marce Duchamp 1917, (after the 1917 Society of independent artists exhibit)

Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956) was an influential American painter and a major force in abstract impressionism

Possible links between creativity and mental illness n Are people with mental illness more creative than the general population? If so, does this apply to all illnesses? n Are people with creative genius more likely to be mentally ill than others? If so, what attributes of the illness are likely to be associated with creativity?

The link – psychoanalytic aspects Sigmund Freud (1856 -1939) – “Creativity is the sublimation of sexual drives in the psychoanalytic depiction” creative genius is a way of converting unconscious conflict (esp. repressed libidinal desires) into a more acceptable form to overcome anxiety n neurosis and creativity originated in conflicts stemming from wish-fulfilment and biological drives n

Creativity as sublimation? Charles Schulz – creator of ‘Peanuts’ Was it a way of grappling with his own depressive emotions? Charlie Brown: "I have deep feelings of depression. " "What can I do about it? " "Snap out if it, " replies Lucy. Morgan, J. “Creativity and Mental Disorder” – Chapter 7 of Every Family in the Land: understanding prejudice and discrimination against people with mental illness. www. stigma. org

The link – psychoanalytic aspects n Anthony Storr (1920 -2001) – Construed creativity as a product of the adaptability of human nature. The dissonance between external reality and ourselves becomes manifest in creativity: the most creative of us may also be the most ‘at odds with themselves and the world’. e. g. those with neuroses “Necessity may be the mother of invention, but dissatisfaction is its father. ” Dissatisfaction with external reality is allied to notions of neurosis Jamison K. Mood disorders and patterns of creativity in British writers and artists. Psychiatry 1989; 52: 125– 34.

The Sylvia Plath effect Are creative writers are more susceptible to Mental illness, especially female poets? Kaufman, J. C. The Sylvia Plath effect: Mental illness in eminent creative writers. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 35(1). 2001

The link – biological aspects n Reduced latent inhibition? brains of creative people appear to be more open to incoming stimuli from the surrounding environment Previously, failure to screen out stimuli was associated with psychosis n Part of this hypothesis: Reduced latent inhibition may be positive when combined with high intelligence and good working memory but negative otherwise n Evolutionary element? Peterson, J. Carson, S. Biological Basis For Creativity Linked To Mental Illness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. October 2003

The Psychedelic approach to creativity n Psychedelic experience is connected with altered states of consciousness (Tart 1972, 1975) -These may be induced by psychoactive drugs n The psychedelic approach to creativity is based on the idea that the normal state of consciousness restricts people's awareness and consciousness enhancement is needed to realize one's fullest creative potential (Barron, 1965; Masters and Houston, 1966, 1968; Abraham, Mc. Kenna and Sheldrake, 1992). n Creativity can be considered as a discrete class of psychedelic phenomena (Krippner, 1999).

Aldous Huxley The Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences when taking mescaline. "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern. "

Evidence– Creativity and Mental illness Scientific Studies done to explore a possible link date back to n the 1920’s. 14 early studies attempted to identify the presence of mental illness in creative individuals. But did not use standardized or contemporary definitions of mental illness. n Case Series: q q Jamison (1989) 38% of 47 British writers and artists had received treatment for mood disorders at some time in their lives Post (1994) 291 biographies of eminent males. He found high rates of psychiatric disorders in writers and artists Methodological flaws: control or comparison groups not used, randomisation or blinding, all were retrospective Post F. Creativity and psychopathology: a study of 291 world-famous men. Br J Psychiatry 1994; 165: 22– 34. . Jamison K. Mood disorders and patterns of creativity in British writers and artists. Psychiatry 1989; 52: 125– 34

Schumann’s Musical works Jamison, K. R. Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament. Free Press/Macmillan, 1993. Jamison, K. R. Manic-Depressive Illness and Creativity. Scientific American. February, 1995

Evidence– Creativity and Mental illness n Case control studies: q q Andreasen - three studies(1974, 1984 and 2008) 30 writers who were compared with 30 “non-creative” matched controls. Writers had significantly higher lifetime prevalence rates than controls for all mood disorders (80% versus 30%), for bipolar disorder (43% versus 10%), and for alcoholism (30% versus 7%) Andreason (1987) There is a higher prevalence of affective disorder and creativity in the writers' first-degree relatives, suggesting that these traits run together in families and could be genetically mediated. 1. Andreasen N, Canter A. The creative writer: psychiatric symptoms and family history. Compr Psychiatry 1974; 15: 123 2. M. Kalian, V. Lerner, and E. Witzium Creativity and Affective Illness. Am J Psychiatry, April 1, 2002; 159(4): 675 676. 3. Andreasen N. Creativity and mental illness: prevalence rates in writers and their first-degree relatives. Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144: 1288– 92.

The Evidence – Manic-Depressive Illness and Creativity 1. 2. Jamison, K. R. Manic-Depressive Illness and Creativity. Scientific American. February, 1995 Andreasen et al. The relationship between creativity and mental disorders. Dialogues in Clinical Neurosciences. 10, 2. 121 -264, 2008

Creativity in People With Mental Illness n n 1. 2. Case-control studies have assessed creativity in people with mental disorders using standardized definitions of mental illness Mild mood disorders were associated with higher creativity, whereas severe illness was associated with lowest creativity, although differences between groups were not statistically significant in most studies Funk J, Chessare J, Weaver M, Exley A. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, creativity, and the effects of methylphenidate. Pediatrics 1993; 91: 816– 9. Richards R, Kinney D, Lunde I, Benet M, Merzel A. Creativity in manic-depressives, cyclothymes, their normal relatives, and control subjects. J Abnorm Psychol 1988; 97: 281– 8.

Contradictions in the Literature n n n Rothenberg came to the conclusion that the association between MI and creativity was not significant - And that MI actually impaired creativity and treatment improved it Millett, a feminist, wrote: “During depression the world disappears. Language itself. One has nothing to say. Nothing” Kuhn commented that scientists were often slow to accept their own rational evidence when it contradicted popular theories Rothenberg A. Creativity and madness. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1990. Kuhn T. The structure of scientific revolutions. 2 nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1970.

Creativity- touched with madness? ? The need to romantically link genius and madness may n be rooted in society’s need to regard both as “deviant” n n n Some mental disorders, especially milder ones, may enhance creativity in some individuals; for instance, hypomania The enthusiasm for associating creativity and mental illness has not been supported adequately by the evidence Perhaps both mental illness and creativity have become metaphors for non-rational or spiritual needs that are sublimated in our rational, scientific age

“Men have called me mad, ” wrote Edgar Allan Poe, “but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence— whether much that is glorious— whether all that is profound— does not spring from disease of thought— from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. ”