Challenges in determining whether creativity and mental illness are associated

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.

The Relationship Between Creativity and Intrusive Rumination Among Chinese Teenagers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Emotional Resilience as a Moderator

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has not only resulted in immeasurable life and property losses worldwide but has also impacted individuals' development, especially teenagers. After the COVID-19 pandemic, individual rumination as an important cognitive process should be given more attention because of its close associations with physical and mental health. Previous studies have shown that creativity as an antecedent variable can predict people's mental health or adaptation. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between creativity and individual cognitive rumination after traumatic events, and the mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. By using the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS), the Event Related Rumination Inventory, and the Questionnaire of Adolescent Emotional Resilience, the current study explored the relationship between creativity and intrusive rumination among 1488 Chinese teenagers during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzed the moderating effect of emotional resilience on the relationship. The results showed that creativity, as assessed by the RIBS, was positively related to teenagers' intrusive rumination, which implied that a higher level of creative performance could predict more intrusive rumination. Moreover, emotional resilience acted as a moderator in the relationship between creativity and intrusive rumination; the correlation was stronger when emotional resilience was low. These findings provide more evidence of the relationship between creativity and mental health and show the effect of this traumatic event on teenagers.

Depression, mania and self-reported creativity in bipolar disorder

The present study investigated the relationship between self-reported creativity and current symptoms of depression and mania. Three hundred and ninety-seven participants previously diagnosed with BD completed an online questionnaire that included demographic and clinical information questions, creativity and self-report measures of depression and hypo/mania over the past week. Those reporting clinically significant depressive symptoms had significantly lower creativity scores than those in the hypo/mania and no current symptom groups. There were no significant differences between those reporting clinically significant hypo/mania and no current symptom groups, however they reported significantly higher creativity scores than those who reported symptoms of both hypo/mania and depression in the past week. Furthermore, subscales of the creativity measure demonstrated significant differences between some of the groups on the drama, interaction and maths/science subscales. These findings suggest that there is a relationship between mood and how people with BD understand and experience creativity. Further research is needed to better understand the role of creativity in the management of bipolar disorder and how this may be associated with well-being outcomes such as recovery, and also how it may be incorporated into treatment.

The Influence of Intrinsic Motivation and Synergistic Extrinsic Motivators on Creativity and Innovation

Despite the vast amount of research focusing on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the effects of extrinsic motivators on creativity and innovation have been scarcely investigated. Extrinsic factors can be seen as synergistic extrinsic motivators when they have a positive effect on the outcome. The present study investigates synergistic extrinsic motivators that organizations can use to foster creativity and innovation of their intrinsically motivated knowledge workers. The analysis is based on Amabile and Pratt’s dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation in organizations combined with elements from Ryan and Deci’s self-determination theory. The quantitative data stemmed from 90 knowledge workers of an international consulting company who participated in an online self-assessment. In exploratory factor analyses, extrinsic motivation items consolidated two factors “relational rewards” and “transactional rewards”, while creativity and innovation items resulted in a one-factor solution, called “creativity/innovation performance”.

The results of hierarchical regression analyses confirmed the widely found positive effects of intrinsic motivation on creative and innovative performance. Moreover, the results supported the hypothesis that the extrinsic motivator, relational rewards, moderated the relationship between intrinsic motivation and creativity/innovation performance significantly and positively. The findings showed the higher the perceived probability of receiving relational rewards and the higher the intrinsic motivation, the greater the positive effect on creative/innovative outcomes. At the same time, the results did not confirm the hypothesis, that the moderator transactional rewards had a statistically significant effect on the relationship between intrinsic motivation and creative/innovative performance. Finally, the empirical evidence provided practical implications on how to stimulate the creativity/innovation performance of knowledge workers within organizations.

High Schizotypal Individuals Are More Creative? The Mediation Roles of Overinclusive Thinking and Cognitive Inhibition

Although a theoretical link between positive schizotypy and heightened creativity has been established in the literature, little empirical research has been conducted to examine the underlying cognitive processes that contribute to this association. In addition, previous studies found a negative relationship between positive schizotypy and cognitive inhibition; however, they often used the paradigm of latent inhibition. This study used the paradigm of prepotent response inhibition indicated by Stroop interference effect and examined the mediation effects of overinclusive thinking (OT) and cognitive inhibition on the creativity of schizotypal individuals. Two groups of low and high schizotypal individuals (N = 78) participated in the study. Each participant completed one OT task, one color-word Stroop task, three other executive functioning (EF) control tasks, and two creativity tasks. The results indicated that the high schizotypal group outperformed the low schizotypal group in the creativity tasks. They also exhibited higher OT as indicated by faster reaction time and higher cognitive inhibition as indicated by lower Stroop interference effect. Further, participant's levels of OT and cognitive inhibition partially mediated the relationship between schizotypy and creativity. The results were discussed under the context of schizotypy and creativity research and implications for rehabitation were further provided.