Creativity And Mental Disorders Linked?
By Wyatt Earp | October 7, 2008
Well, that would explain why this blog is so popular: I’m a psycho.
Now, if I can just claim to hear voices and start seeing a few hallucinations, I’ll be on my way to a Weblog Award!
(CNN) — The works of David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide September 12, are famous for their obsessively observed detail and emotional nuance.
Certain characteristics of his prose — hypersensitivity and constant rumination, or persistent contemplation — reflect a pattern of temperament that some psychology researchers say connects mental illness, especially bipolar disorder and depression, with creativity.
There have been more than 20 studies that suggest an increased rate of bipolar and depressive illnesses in highly creative people, says Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and author of the “An Unquiet Mind,” a memoir of living with bipolar disorder.
Experts say mental illness does not necessarily cause creativity, nor does creativity necessarily contribute to mental illness, but a certain ruminating personality type may contribute to both mental health issues and art. (H/T - CNN)
See? I’m disabled! How do I get me a government grant?
Topics: WTF? |
October 7th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Well, I guess that would explain Hollyweird.
October 7th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Call FEMA. They’ll be right on it.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
So Picasso, da Vinci, van Gogh… should we add all those to this category as well?
Was this study funded as one of the ridiculous democratic earmarks on the new bailout? It wouldn’t surprise me… most of them come closer to falling under the definition of mental illness than David Foster Wallace.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Goes a long way toward explaining why so many from Hollywood and the music world are Democrats.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
David Wallace, ADORED by the Idiot Left, wrote ONE acclaimed book which had, quite frankly, such a puerile plot that I became bored after the first paragraph. Wallace killed himself for these two very salient reasons:
1. He was insane;
2. He realized the book really was shit.
BZ
October 8th, 2008 at 9:19 am
John D - Except they’re not as creative as they used to be.
Doghouse - Oh, yeah. I trust FEMA to get things done. Heh.
Deanna - There’s enough pork in that bailout to keeep the Muslims at bay for years.
Joated - Agreed on that!
BZ - When I publish a book, I am ignoring the terrible reviews. I’m sure there will be plenty.