Creativity and psychiatric illness: the search for a missing link--an historical context for current research

Self-perceived relations between artistic creativity and mental illness: a study into lived experiences

Aim

To explore the self-perceived relationships between experiences of creativity and mental illness and to understand the meanings behind these relationships.

Background

The idea that mental illness and artistic creativity are somehow related dates back to ancient times. There is some evidence for an actual correlation, but many questions remain unanswered on the nature and direction of the relationship. Qualitative contributions to the debate are scarce, and mainly focus on the potential benefits of participation in the arts for people with mental illness.

Design

An explorative, interpretive study.

Methods

Twenty-four professional and semi-professional artists with self-reported experience with mental illness, were recruited purposively. Unstructured in-depth interviews were conducted and transcripts were subjected to interpretive analysis, guided by a hermeneutic phenomenological frame.

Results

Participants experience a range of interactions between artistic creativity and mental illness. Three constitutive patterns describe what these interactions look like: "flow as a powerful force"; "ambiguous self-manifestation"; and "narrating experiences of suffering."

Conclusion

The findings show that both the concept of creativity and the concept of mental illness, as well as their interrelationships, are layered and complex phenomena that can take on different meanings in people's lives. The findings provide starting points for further research that goes beyond the polarized academic debate. Understanding the experiences of artists with mental illness can help shape the role of art in public mental health and mental health care.

Resting frontal EEG asymmetry and schizotypal traits: a test-retest study

Introduction: Increase in right relative to left frontal electroencephalography (EEG) activity has been observed in patients with schizophrenia, both in cognitive tasks and during rest; and this lateralisation may be related to the severity of schizotypal traits. Methods: We used the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) to assess schizotypal traits, and examined the correlation between these traits and resting EEG frontal asymmetry (left-right) in 52 college students, as well as the reliability of this correlation over a three-month interval. Results: A higher total score on the SPQ was correlated with reduced asymmetry in different frequency bands: gamma and beta2 frequency bands at baseline, and delta and alpha frequency bands three months later. Additionally, the reduced left relative to right frontal gamma and beta2 asymmetry was correlated with the participants' verbal fluency ability. However, this correlation was no longer statistically significant after the total SPQ score was controlled. Conclusions: These findings suggest that resting frontal EEG asymmetry is correlated with powers in different frequency bands, and may be an endophenotype for schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Brain White Matter Correlates of Creativity in Schizophrenia: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

The relationship between creativity and psychopathology has been a controversial research topic for decades. Specifically, it has been shown that people with schizophrenia have an impairment in creative performance. However, little is known about the brain correlates underlying this impairment. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze whole brain white matter (WM) correlates of several creativity dimensions in people with schizophrenia. Fifty-five patients with schizophrenia underwent diffusion-weighted imaging on a 3T magnetic resonance imaging machine as well as a clinical and a creativity assessment, including verbal and figural creativity measures. Tract-based spatial statistic, implemented in FMRIB Software Library (FSL), was used to assess whole brain WM correlates with different creativity dimensions, controlling for sex, age, premorbid IQ, and medication. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) in frontal, temporal, subcortical, brain stem, and interhemispheric regions correlated positively with figural originality. The most significant clusters included the right corticospinal tract (cerebral peduncle part) and the right body of the corpus callosum. Verbal creativity did not show any significant correlation. As a whole, these findings suggest that widespread WM integrity is involved in creative performance of patients with schizophrenia. Many of these areas have also been related to creativity in healthy people. In addition, some of these regions have shown to be particularly impaired in schizophrenia, suggesting that these WM alterations could be underlying the worse creative performance found in this pathology.

Mediating role of cognition and social cognition on creativity among patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls: Revisiting the Shared Vulnerability Model

AIM

As suggested by the Shared Vulnerability Model, impairment in executive functions could lead to worse creative performance among individuals with schizophrenia. Another impaired function in schizophrenia, previously related to creativity in healthy people, is theory of mind. However, little is known about the effect of theory of mind in creativity in schizophrenia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze differences in creativity among patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls (HC) and to explore the potential role of executive functions and theory of mind as mediators of this relation.

METHODS

Forty-five patients with schizophrenia and 45 HC underwent a neuropsychological assessment, including executive functions (cognitive flexibility and working memory), theory of mind, and verbal and figural creativity.

RESULTS

As expected, patients with schizophrenia obtained lower scores in creativity, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and theory of mind compared to HC. Path analysis showed that theory of mind mediated the relation between group (schizophrenia or HC) and both figural (Z = 2.075, P = 0.037) and verbal creativity (Z = 2.570, P = 0.010). Working memory mediated the relation between group and figural creativity (Z = 2.034, P = 0.041) and was marginally significant for verbal creativity (Z = 1.930, P = 0.053). Finally, cognitive flexibility mediated between group and figural creativity (Z = 2.454, P = 0.014).

CONCLUSION

Results suggest that the lower performance in creativity among patients with schizophrenia was partly due to an impairment in executive functions and theory of mind. The involvement of theory of mind opens up a new field of research as a possible risk factor in the Shared Vulnerability Model.

Does Mind Wandering During the Thought Incubation Period Improve Creativity and Worsen Mood?

Enhancing creative problem-solving is increasingly important in a modern globalized society. Previous research has shown that creative problem-solving can be improved if the mind is allowed to wander during time set aside from solving a problem, known as the incubation period. However, some research also suggests that mind wandering leads to negative affect. Our study aims to clarify the effect of mind wandering during the incubation stage on both creative problem-solving and mood while controlling for the effect of working memory capacity. Fifty-two students (both undergraduate and graduates) completed a working memory task and repeated a creative problem-solving task at intervals before and after an incubation period. At the end of the incubation period, we measured participants' frequency of mind wandering and their moods. Results showed that the group with the higher frequency of mind wandering showed the most improvement in one indicator of creativity, flexibility, although this finding was not significant after adjusting for the other four facets. Moreover, our findings indicate that as creativity improved, more negative affect was generated. Our results suggest that mind wandering during the incubation stage could be used to generate more diverse ideas but also suggest that there is a risk attached. Further research should explore how specific features of mind wandering might improve creativity without generating negative affect.

Positive Traits in the Bipolar Spectrum: The Space between Madness and Genius

Bipolar disorder is a severe, lifelong mood disorder for which little is currently understood of the genetic mechanisms underlying risk. By examining related dimensional phenotypes, we may further our understanding of the disorder. Creativity has a historical connection with the bipolar spectrum and is particularly enhanced among unaffected first-degree relatives and those with bipolar spectrum traits. This suggests that some aspects of the bipolar spectrum may confer advantages, while more severe expressions of symptoms negatively influence creative accomplishment. Creativity is a complex, multidimensional construct with both cognitive and affective components, many of which appear to reflect a shared genetic vulnerability with bipolar disorder. It is suggested that a subset of bipolar risk variants confer advantages as positive traits according to an inverted-U-shaped curve with clinically unaffected allele carriers benefitting from the positive traits and serving to maintain the risk alleles in the population. The association of risk genes with creativity in healthy individuals (e.g., NRG1), as well as an overall sharing of common genetic variation between bipolar patients and creative individuals, provides support for this model. Current findings are summarized from a multidisciplinary perspective to demonstrate the feasibility of research in this area to reveal the mechanisms underlying illness.

Statistical Image Properties in Works from the Prinzhorn Collection of Artists with Schizophrenia

The Prinzhorn Collection preserves and exhibits thousands of visual artworks by patients who were diagnosed to suffer from mental disease. From this collection, we analyzed 1,256 images by 14 artists who were diagnosed with dementia praecox or schizophrenia. Six objective statistical properties that have been used previously to characterize visually aesthetic images were calculated. These properties reflect features of formal image composition, such as the complexity and distribution of oriented luminance gradients and edges, as well as Fourier spectral properties. Results for the artists with schizophrenia were compared to artworks from three public art collections of paintings and drawings that include highly acclaimed artworks as well as artworks of lesser artistic claim (control artworks). Many of the patients' works did not differ from these control images. However, the artworks of 6 of the 14 artists with schizophrenia possess image properties that deviate from the range of values obtained for the control artworks. For example, the artworks of four of the patients are characterized by a relative dominance of specific edge orientations in their images (low first-order entropy of edge orientations). Three patients created artworks with a relatively high ratio of fine detail to coarse structure (high slope of the Fourier spectrum). In conclusion, the present exploratory study opens novel perspectives for the objective scientific investigation of visual artworks that were created by persons who suffer from schizophrenia.

The assessment of creativity in creativity/psychopathology research - a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

The possible link between creativity and psychopathology has been a long time focus of research up to the present day. However, this research is hampered by methodological problems, especially the definition and assessment of creativity. This makes interpretation and comparison of studies difficult and possibly accounts for the contradictory results of this research.

METHODS

In this systematic review of the literature, research articles in the field of creativity and psychopathology were searched for creativity assessment tools. The tools used in the collected articles are presented and discussed.

RESULTS

The results indicate that a multitude of creativity assessment tools were used, that many studies only used one tool to assess creativity and that most of these tools were only used in a limited number of studies. A few assessment tools stand out by a more frequent use, also outside psychopathological research, and more solid psychometric properties.

CONCLUSION

Most scales used to evaluate creativity have poor psychometric properties. The scattered methodology to assess creativity compromises the generalizability and validity of this research. The field should creatively develop new validated instruments.

Creativity and psychopathology: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

The possible link between creativity and psychopathology has been a long-time focus of research up to the present day. However, the research results in this field are heterogeneous and contradictory. Links between creativity and specific psychiatric disorders have been confirmed and refuted in different studies. This disparity is partly explained by the methodological challenges peculiar to this field.

METHODS

In this systematic review of the literature from 1950, research articles in the field of creativity and psychopathology are presented, focusing on the methodology and results of the collected studies.

RESULTS

This review confirms the methodological problems and the heterogeneity of the study designs and results. The assessment of psychopathology, but more so of creativity, remains a fundamental challenge. On the whole, study results cautiously confirm an association between creativity and both bipolar disorder and schizotypy.

CONCLUSION

The research on creativity and psychopathology is hampered by serious methodological problems. Study results are to be interpreted with caution and future research needs more methodological rigor.