[Creativity and mental illness]

Psychiatr Hung. 2006;21(4):288-94.
[Article in Hungarian]

Abstract

It has been known for a long time that people with salient social and artistic creativity suffer more frequently from psychiatric illnesses than the average population. In their review paper, the authors assess the Hungarian and international scientific literature regarding the association of creativity and psychopathology. They conclude that contrary to the concept prevailing in the first part of the 20th century about the strong association between schizophrenia and creativity, the results of empirical research now unambiguously suggest that prominent social and artistic creativity is associated primarily with affective, and more specifically with bipolar affective illnesses. In addition, we already know that as regards the development of creativity, it is not the given affective (depressive, manic, hypomanic) episode which is important, but the hyperthymic or cyclothymic temperament structure which also predisposes for affective illness.

Publication types

  • Biography
  • English Abstract
  • Historical Article
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Bipolar Disorder / psychology
  • Creativity*
  • Depressive Disorder / psychology
  • Famous Persons*
  • History, 19th Century
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Literature, Modern / history
  • Medical Records
  • Mental Disorders / psychology*
  • Music / history
  • Poetry as Topic / history
  • Politics

Personal name as subject

  • István Széchenyi
  • Gyula Juhász
  • Robert Schumann
  • Winston Churchill
  • Ernest Hemingway