Lesson 4: Mental Illnesses associated with Creativity
What are some specific mental illnesses that have been associated with creativity?
Mood Disorders: Depression and Bipolar Disorder
Depression: A mental state of disheartened mood characterized by feelings of sadness, despair and discouragement. Clinical depression is not simply feeling sad. For a diagnosis of clinical depression, a person would have 5 or more of the following symptoms for 2 or more weeks: loss of interest in life, low mood, changes in appetite, feeling worthless, dwelling on guilt or shame, sleep disorders, restlessness, poor concentration, suicidal ideation (thoughts of suicide whether or not there is a plan to act on them).
For more information on depression, watch this video: What is depression? - Helen M. Farrell
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Bipolar Disorder: Formally known as manic depression, this is a mood disorder in which the person's mood swings from euphoric, manic stages to depression (from one "pole" to the other). This is not simply being happy and then sad, but rather periods of uncontrollable, clinical mania and longer periods of depression. During periods of mania, the person may exhibit sleeplessness, incoherent/irrational thought and speech hyperactivity, unrealistic ideas about themselves and others, and act in sexually, socially, and physically unhealthy ways (sleeping with many people, going on shopping sprees which they can't possibly afford, etc.). There are 2 types of bipolar disorder: Type 1 shows the characteristic swings between euphoria and despair. Type 2 has less pronounced manic episodes called hypomania, which more closely resemble anxiety.
For more information on bipolar disorder, watch this video: What is bipolar disorder? - Helen M. Farrell
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Take a minute to take some notes: What is the difference between depression and bipolar disorder?
Schizophrenia: Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder with a wide variety of symptoms. These symptoms can be classified into three overall types: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and disorganized symptoms.
Positive symptoms are thoughts and behaviors that are absent in non-schizophrenics but are present in those with schizophrenia. These symptoms include distorted perceptions like delusions and hallucinations. Delusions are false beliefs – such as “I am possessed by a demon” or paranoid beliefs such as “I am being followed by the CIA.” Hallucinations are actually hearing or seeing things that are not there. The most common hallucinations are hearing voices. Other positive symptoms may include compulsive movement, which may include compulsive, repeated, agitated movements or catatonia, a rigid, motionless state as if frozen.
Negative symptoms include behaviors that are typically there in those without schizophrenia but are absent in individuals with schizophrenia. These may include flat affect, a state of no emotional expression at all, and reduced motivation and pleasure in life activities.
Disorganized symptoms include rapidly switching topics, inability to focus, and incoherent speech.
With the publication of the DSM-5 schizophrenia was classified as a spectrum disorder, a disorder with a range of different symptoms with an accompanying wide range of severity. Milder forms of schizophrenia are often referred to as schizotypy. Note that schizophrenia is NOT multiple personality disorder/ dissociative identity disorder – i.e. schizophrenia is not a disorder that includes two or more personalities in one person. This is a common misconception.
For more information on schizophrenia watch this video: Schizophrenia & Dissociative Disorders: Crash Course Psychology #32
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Take a minute to take some notes: What are the 3 categories of symptoms of schizophrenia? What is schizotypy?
Personality Disorders: People with personality disorders have personalities that are outside social norms. Very often people with a personality disorder are not even aware that their maladaptive behaviors and personalities are so different than those of other members of their society. Most people have heard of antisocial personality disorder – a disorder characterized by a lack of empathy and remorse. But there are many other kinds of personality disorders. According to the DSM-5, personality disorders can be organized into 3 clusters: Cluster A types tend to have what would be considered odd behaviors including paranoid personality disorder which is characterized by an extreme distrust of others, including family members. or schizotypal personality disorder, characterized by similar patterns of thinking and behavior to those seen in schizophrenia.
Cluster B tend to be characterized by emotional manipulation, such as the aforementioned antisocial personality disorder characterized by a complete lack of concern for the feelings of others or narcissistic personality disorder characterized by extreme feeling of self-importance, self-entitlement, and a need for superiority to be acknowledged.
Cluster C includes avoidant and anxious personality disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, characterized by excessive worry about order and perfectionism.
Read more about all the personality disorders here Links to an external site..
For more information on personality disorders watch this video: Personality Disorders: Crash Course Psychology #34
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Take a minute to take some notes: What is a personality disorder? Name 5 personality disorders and their characteristics.
Addiction: A person is addicted to a substance or behavior if he or she continues use compulsively even after a strong desire to discontinue. There are many, many types of addictions, from gambling, to sex, and of course, drugs and alcohol.
For more information on addiction, watch this video:
Take 2 Minutes to Take some notes: What is addiction and is there a physiological basis for addiction?
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: Mental Illness Exercise
Who are some artists with a history of mental disorder? How do we know their diagnosis?
There seem to be no lack of examples when it comes to artists with mental disorders, making this a prime example of the availability heuristic discussed in lesson 1. The list below is not comprehensive or scholarly. Most are posthumous diagnoses – and regular face-to-face diagnosis is hard enough! Also there is much comorbidity – that means people may have multiple diagnoses such as depression and addiction.
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Depression: Robin Williams, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh
Bipolar: Zelda Fitzgerald, Edgar Allen Poe, and Vincent van Gogh
Schizophrenia: Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac), Syd Barret (Pink Floyd)
Personality Disorders: Edvard Munch, Thomas Wolfe
Substance Abuse: Jackson Pollack, Raymond Carver, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald