The Genius And Mental Illness

Having the ability to be creative and letting your mind free is one thing, but having this trait passed from parent to child is sensational. Most people would say that you are an artist because your are creative. Why is that? Well, creativity comes from your DNA. According to the University of Helsinki, scientists had discovered that creativity may be determined by our DNA. The Finnish had concluded, "...with increased creativity had duplicate DNA strands that contained a gene that affected the processing of serotonin, a key neurotransmitter. However, both scientists, Stephen Cauchi and David Cox discovered that there are creativity genes. Which means those creative people out there could linked to be thinking in a flourished way. For those who are creative with artistic talents, they are linked with creativity in their DNA will duplicate the DNA strands. This trait is part of an alleles that makes creativity in genes. Therefore, creativity can be transmitted from the parent to the child.

Aristotle famously asked why is it that all men who have become outstanding in philosophy, poetry and arts are melancholic. This question remains unanswered today. Bipolar disorder is one of the most distinctive conditions in psychiatry. Many famous musicians, writers, and leaders of society have had bipolar disorder. Many of these people — and some of their physicians — have been concerned that the pharmacologic treatment of their mood swings might

Genetic: Bipolar disorder tends to run in families, so researchers believe there is a genetic predisposition for the disorder. Scientists also are exploring the presence of abnormalities on specific genes.

One of my closest friends during my undergraduate career has a mental illness called bipolar. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, bipolar is defined as a chronic mental illness that causes a range of different shifts in mood, energy, activity occurrence, and the ability to function and carry out the day to day tasks (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). Bipolar disorder is also known as a manic depressive illness due to the shifts in mood. People with bipolar often experience lows and highs. Research substantiates that there is no clear cause for bipolar, but there are many factors that contribute to the likelihood of a person developing bipolar.

Bipolar disorder also known as manic depression that causes multiple unusual mood swings; dealing with manic highs and depressive lows. It may also affect their ability to do everyday tasks. When depressed, there is a sense of hopelessness and sad. Even in regular activities person with disorder will lose interest. Person will deal with low energy and low energy. Also, they may deal with a feeling of euphoria, full of energy. These patterns will cause the person to lose sleep, affecting their energy, way of thinking, and activity. Bipolar disorder is a serious brain illness.

In the experiment, Understanding Creativity in Bipolar I Disorder, the experimenters hypothesized that bipolar I disorder would be related to elevations of and greater variability in lifetime creative accomplishment and divergent thinking In this experiment, there were two groups which were the bipolar I disorder group and the control group. The experimenters examined if divergent thinking within the bipolar group was related to positive affectivity, ambition, medication, or depressive and manic symptom severity. They also examined if trait like levels of positive affectivity, neurocognition and ambition were related to either divergent thinking or lifetime creative accomplishment within bipolar disorder.

According to Dbsalliance.org. bipolar I disorder is characterized by one or more manic episodes or mixed episodes and one or more major depressive episodes. Bipolar I disorder is the most severe form of illness marked by extreme manic episodes (Types of Bipolar Disorder). In the experiment, Understanding Creativity in Bipolar I Disorder, the experimenters hypothesized that bipolar I disorder would be related to elevations of and greater variability in lifetime creative accomplishment and divergent thinking In this experiment, there were two groups which were the bipolar I disorder group and the control group. The experimenters examined if divergent thinking within the bipolar group was related to positive affectivity, ambition, medication, or depressive and manic symptom severity. They also examined if trait like levels of positive affectivity, neurocognition and ambition were related to either divergent thinking or lifetime creative accomplishment within bipolar disorder.

Another reason why people might not take medication is because it takes away not only the highs and lows but the essence of peoples’ personalities, it leaves them enigmatic and slow. “The moods you are so used to having on a daily basis fade away until you are left feeling dull”(p.79) This is especially hard for people with manic depressive illness because there moods are very much part of their lives. Many of the world’s most creative people suffer from mental illness and they find that it is very hard to go from being brilliant to average. “When I was depressed, nothing came to me, and nothing came out of me. When manic, or mildly so I would write a paper in a day, my ideas would flow.”(p.114). when you’re forgetting the unbearable pain of depression the memories of seductive highs can easily lure you back off your medication and into another costly episode.

Dr. Alice Flaherty of Harvard Medical School wrote a paper in 2005 expounding upon the link between creativity and mental illness. I found his paper intriguing, due to his delving into the mind of a schizophrenics as well as those with

According to Baird and colleagues, mind wandering can enhance creativity goals and problems that were encountered. Creativity finds solutions that are novel, and high quality (Matlin, 2009). J.P. Guilford researched how we measure creativity. Creativity should be measured by divergent production. This research demonstrates the number of different responses that are made for each test item (Matlin, 2009).

The out-of-date issue of genius and madness has incited long standing open and clinical hobby among researchers. In spite of the fact that amiableness has different parts than creativity (e.g., insight) and is established in a social setting, it is hard to envision an uncreative genius. Creativity comprising of both oddities and effect is subsequently key for agreeableness (Cropley, 2010). The thought of a relationship in the middle of creativity and mental sick well-being has mostly been maintained by infrequent tales or life stories of incredible craftsmen who battled with discouragement or liquor ill-use. Past studies essentially concentrating on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have given some experimental proof of a relationship in the middle of creativity and psychopathology.

The first step in studying creativity is to define what it is. One of the first issues that must be addressed is the relationship between creativity and high intelligence. Since the same word, genius, is often used to refer to people who are highly creative and also to people who are highly intelligent, a common assumption is that creativity and high intelligence are the same thing. This, however, is a misconception.

Critics of this research note that many creative people do not suffer from bipolar disorder, and that most people with bipolar disorder are not especially creative (E).

Mania includes increased energy, feelings of grandeur, intense happiness, irritability, sleeplessness and excitement. Depression on the other hand may include but is not limited to anxiety, melancholy, crying, and thoughts of suicide and death. Having Bipolar Disorder can also bring a heightened ability towards creativity in some individuals, as research is now finding out. Even though bipolar disease was not known during the time of these writers, you can look to their poetry and lives to see that they were suffering from the disease. They are well described today as tortured geniuses.

Charlotte Waddell, in March 1998 stated “creativity and mental illness have long been popularly associated and until recently, few studies have examined this purported association using scientific methods. Recent articles, review of studies concerning mental illness by prominent, creative individuals, have inspired new scientific interest in possible associations between creativity and mental illness”.