Thinking differently from others is one of the hallmarks of creativity, which is why genius was historically often linked to ‘madness’, with examples ranging from Van Gogh to mathematician, John Nash. A study of 150,000 medical records has found that those diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are more likely to be creative professionals such as actors, dancers, musicians, artists or writers. A previous analysis of the genomes of 86,000 Icelanders had already identified genetic traits that significantly increased the risk of these mental illnesses, and it seems that creative professionals are 17% more likely to carry these same genetic variants. It’s unsure whether the link is due the genes or a similar upbringing and environment, but could be explained by similarities in the way the brain works in creative people and patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Comments are closed.