Creativity and mental illness

[Nutter]

Do you really think there is a link between the two?

I know some people, including myself, that are both.. but then i know others that are healthy and fine but also very creative.

tell me your thoughts...

[clementine_the_tangerine]

I think so. I mean look at Frida Kahlo, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath etc

[Nutter]

what was wrong with frida kahlo?

[clementine_the_tangerine]

Depression. I found this, it's interesting http://www.the-bright-side.org/site/...id=884&id=1083

[curlywurlygirly]

Frida Kahlo was BPD right?

Just bought a book on depression my Spike Milligan - haven't read it yet, but he was a famously talented depressive

[Nutter]

thanks for ze link, it looks interesting, i shall print it off.

Actually for some reason, when I think that it might help me, I feel slightly better, help me to be creative i mean, it's just when it gets too much that i can't stand it. meh, oh well. I'll learn from the masters.

[drumbeat]

mental illness, intelligence, depression and creativity can all be linked, imo.

[Mr Orange]

I think you're looking at it far too broadly.

Of course given enough of a sample you're going find people who suffer from varying mental illnesses that are fantastically creative.

But you could apply the same thought to ugly people, is there a link? well there is a number of ugly people who have made an impact due to their creativity, could it be that because they are ugly, they have strived to become something using other methods, ie creativity?

The same would be true of every label you wish to look at given enough of a sample to select from.

[kangoo]

There's lots of research suggesting a link between pathology and creativity. However, creativity is infinatly hard to define let alone measure (as I found out in my dissertation) so its difficult to know how to take the results of such studies.

Also, creativity is heavily influenced by many other factors - immediate environment, intelligence, cognitive style, childhood experiences, to name a few. Mental illness may be a deciding factor or an unrelated bystander. Its very difficult to tell

[Nutter]

Ah yes, all very valid points, I didn't think about all the other people...
I guess it doesn't really matter then, everybody is different.
I don't see why psychologists have to put people in all these different minority groups. I guess sometimes it makes sense, like when diagnosing an illness, but other times I think that we are all different so what good does it do? If we go to see a specialist for a problem then we should be treated as an individual, not put into a group, so therefore that must be what we are thinking and feeling because of past studies...
I don't know if that makes sense, I'm just ranting...

[Mr Orange]

Originally Posted by Nutter

Ah yes, all very valid points, I didn't think about all the other people...
I guess it doesn't really matter then, everybody is different.
I don't see why psychologists have to put people in all these different minority groups. I guess sometimes it makes sense, like when diagnosing an illness, but other times I think that we are all different so what good does it do? If we go to see a specialist for a problem then we should be treated as an individual, not put into a group, so therefore that must be what we are thinking and feeling because of past studies...
I don't know if that makes sense, I'm just ranting...

I think thats a very different arguement to your initial post, we put people in to "groups" rightly or wrongly because it usually makes things easier.

I agree everybody is different and should be treated as an individual, but regardless of what you think of the treatment people get now, i think overall the level of service people got would go down, massively should we start from a blank page with everybody that walks through that doors, since most illnesses etc... share some extent of similarity with their symptoms, and again with their treatment, it'll always be quicker to draw back upon previous experience and treat them with what worked before, then tweak the treatment accordingly.

But yeah, very different to your first point, still no probs

[Nutter]

LOL

[kangoo]

Agree with Mr Orange

Originally Posted by Nutter

If we go to see a specialist for a problem then we should be treated as an individual, not put into a group, so therefore that must be what we are thinking and feeling because of past studies...

You are generally put into a group because of what you are thinking and feeling already, not the other way round. It is unlikely that you will be put into a 'group' and it will be assumed that you are exactly the same as everyone else with the same diagnosis, there is some leeway (although admittedly some people have problems with psychological diagnosis because it is too strict)

I'm not sure what this has to do with mental illness and creativity though?

[VinylVicky]

Originally Posted by Nutter

Do you really think there is a link between the two?

I know some people, including myself, that are both.. but then i know others that are healthy and fine but also very creative.

tell me your thoughts...

I agree. There's also the fine line between madness and intelligence.
They (whoever they are!)say Schizophrenia is often linked to your own inner voice questioning yourself. Intelligant people look at all possibilities, where as those less fortunate take things as a given.

[Calvin]

I'm not sure about mental illness being linked with creativity, although it wouldn't surprise me.

I do believe and there is quite a lot of research into strong link between dyslexia and creativity. I'm not suggesting dyslexia is a mental illness, but merely pointing out a connection.