Intelligence, Creativity, and a Touch of Madness

[Rayaan]

There often seems to be a rather mysterious link between creativity and mental illness. Many great poets, writers, artists, composers, scientists, and mathematicians throughout history were known to battle with some kind of mental illness and/or personality disorder at some point in their lives. Many of these eminent creative individuals had to go through harsh early life experiences as well, such as social rejection, parental loss, and physical disability, along with their mental and emotional instabilities. They were tortured and brilliant at the same time, so to speak. They would oftentimes come up with the most original ideas and penetrating flashes of insight during moments of psychological pain, distress, or sadness.

But is there really a link between high levels of creativity and mental illness?


"Men have called me mad; 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. They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. In their gray visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in awakening, to find that they have been upon the verge of the great secret." - Edgar Allen Poe

"Thus the creative genius may be at once naïve and knowledgeable, being at home equally to primitive symbolism and to rigorous logic. He is both more primitive and more cultured, more destructive and more constructive, occasionally crazier and yet adamantly saner, than the average person." - Frank X. Barron

Those quotes may well be true ... because even recent studies have concluded that there is a positive association between creativity and mental illness. They show that creative and intelligent minds have a higher-than-average tendency to be predisposed to things like depression, anxiety, alcoholism, obsessionality, psychotic disorders, personality disorders, hallucinations, addiction, etc. So, with that said, here are some links on this which I found pretty interesting:

A Little Weird? Prone to Depression? Blame Your Creative Brain

Robin Williams' Death Underscores Connection Between Creativity, Depression and Addiction

Secrets of the Creative Brain

The Dark Side of Creativity


Creative people also have high levels of intuition. As Frank Barron, a pioneer in the psychology of creativity, asserted: "So our finding was that intuition, linked with some degree of introversion, was related to creativity" (1965).

Another interesting thing about the brains of really creative people is that they are able to simultaneously activate two different networks of the brain which are anti-correlated in most ordinary people. One of them is the executive control network (which is also dubbed the "looking out" network) and the purpose of this network is to basically control our ability to concentrate (on the external environment). The other one is called the default mode network (also dubbed the "looking in" network) and this network is associated with the ability to focus on our inner stream of consciousness, such as for things like imagining, daydreaming, and self-reflection.

Studies have found that creative people are more easily able to keep the two aforementioned networks of the brain activated at the same time as compared to less creative people. Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist, explains this new finding in the talk below which starts around the 5:30 mark.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpWLZntADdI

[Anomalocaris]

I can just see it now, Christian moron would start to claim that because some undisputed insightful geniuses were undoubtedly insane, therefore insane apologists must all be insightful geniuses.

[Rayaan]

Oh, you ...

[psychoslice]

I don't really know, but I do know that when I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, I all of a sudden became very creative. I became a portrait painter, I wrote a book, started to play instruments and writing songs, and the best thing was havening a enlightenment experience, which the book I wrote was about. I have a few friends who are also schizo, and each one is also very switched on, well not all the time lol.

[Violet]

That one's world is 'infected' with subjective reality does not also mean that one is incapable of simultaneous interaction with the intersubjective reality of their peers.

The point at which one is no longer 'hallucinating', and is instead 'living' in their subjective existence, is the point which at which one has become incapable of current simultaneous interaction.

Just a note The Edgar Allen Poe quote is beautiful... I may have to reconsider my estimation of his awful 'poetry'

[bennyboy]

I don't really know, but I do know that when I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, I all of a sudden became very creative. I became a portrait painter, I wrote a book, started to play instruments and writing songs, and the best thing was havening a enlightenment experience, which the book I wrote was about. I have a few friends who are also schizo, and each one is also very switched on, well not all the time lol.

The main difference between "crazy" and "genius," in my opinion, is really the appreciation that others have for your unique way of thinking. If they see meaning and value in it, you're a genius. If they find it discomforting, threatening or obnoxious, not so much-- even though the actual condition could be identical.

Very many of the greatest geniuses, especially in the creative arts, have been clinical in a variety of ways.

[Rayaan]

I don't really know, but I do know that when I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, I all of a sudden became very creative. I became a portrait painter, I wrote a book, started to play instruments and writing songs, and the best thing was havening a enlightenment experience, which the book I wrote was about. I have a few friends who are also schizo, and each one is also very switched on, well not all the time lol.

That's pretty cool, eh? You're a living proof of a 'tortured genius' ... like these greats of the past were ...

10 Great Painters Who Were Mentally Disturbed

That one's world is 'infected' with subjective reality does not also mean that one is incapable of simultaneous interaction with the intersubjective reality of their peers.

But what I was thinking is that when your mind is wandering/reflecting (i.e. "looking inwards"), don't you feel that your external attention becomes a little more subdued for a moment? Not completely but to a certain extent?

For example, if someone gave you a math problem to solve and you started working on it, then naturally it would somewhat interfere with your concentration on the task if you started to daydream or think about some other stuff at the same time. Can you really do both at the same time? Well okay, maybe you can, but for most people I think this would be a little difficult. So there seems to be a trade-off relationship between peoples' internal attention and their external attention. As one of them goes up, the other one goes down.

Maybe what the psychologists discovered is that creative people are able to maintain a greater amount of activity in terms of both internal and external attention, i.e. they can engage in both of them simultaneously with a greater intensity. I think this is still pretty controversial, but that's my understanding so far after having watched the video (the one that I posted in the OP). But I could be wrong.

Just a note The Edgar Allen Poe quote is beautiful... I may have to reconsider my estimation of his awful 'poetry'

Do you generally not like poetry much ... or is it just his poems that you find awful?

[Minimalist]

I recall Bill Maher saying something along the lines of: "I don't approve of heroin..... but it never hurt my record collection.

[Violet]

That one's world is 'infected' with subjective reality does not also mean that one is incapable of simultaneous interaction with the intersubjective reality of their peers.

But what I was thinking is that when your mind is wandering/reflecting (i.e. "looking inwards"), don't you feel that your external attention becomes a little more subdued for a moment? Not completely but to a certain extent?

Perhaps to the application of blunted of flat affectation upon my external emotions... but in most circumstances: not much.

That you have to watch something to your left and to your right at the same time does not mean that you cannot passably do so with minimal delay though give you whiplash it may.

For example, if someone gave you a math problem to solve and you started working on it, then naturally it would somewhat interfere with your concentration on the task if you started to daydream or think about some other stuff at the same time. Can you really do both at the same time? Well okay, maybe you can, but for most people I think this would be a little difficult. So there seems to be a trade-off relationship between peoples' internal attention and their external attention. As one of them goes up, the other one goes down.

The problem is only incurred if the external information influence is not in any way related to internal thought. It's not a question of up and down... it's a question of connectivity. When I am playing a video game with headphones in: the world outside of that immersion may as well not exist, being spoken to, even with sound muted, comes quiet from thousands of miles away.

Same thing applies to internal/external: focus too hard on the external, and you may lose focus on internal... focus too hard on internal, and you may literally lose vision of the external.

Maybe what the psychologists discovered is that creative people are able to maintain a greater amount of activity in terms of both internal and external attention, i.e. they can engage in both of them simultaneously with a greater intensity. I think this is still pretty controversial, but that's my understanding so far after having watched the video (the one that I posted in the OP). But I could be wrong.

More so than balance: maintaining a particularly vivid spiral is very... tiring. Though, perhaps that's due to the content to a greater degree than it is to the ability. I find a balanced position to be almost effortless... sapping energy only when considering reality.

The quiet, when it happens, is... odd. Somehow... it's too peaceful. Plenty of energy to burn, no viable alternate outlet.

Do you generally not like poetry much ... or is it just his poems that you find awful?

The latter, as I do not believe it constitutes poetry. I can certainly enjoy listening to them read aloud.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I think there's a romanticization of the concept of tortured genius, How many studies on this have been done, and how many have included both non-artists with mental diagnoses, and artists with no diagnoses?