Creativity 'closely entwined with mental illness'

Michelle Roberts:

Creativity is often part of a mental illness, with writers particularly susceptible, according to a study of more than a million people.

Writers had a higher risk of anxiety and bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, unipolar depression, and substance abuse, the Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute found.

They were almost twice as likely as the general population to kill themselves.

The dancers and photographers were also more likely to have bipolar disorder.

It is important that we do not romanticise people with mental health problems, who are too often portrayed as struggling creative geniuses"

The mental health charity Mind
As a group, those in the creative professions were no more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders than other people.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 17, 2012 1:27 AM
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