Uticopa Blog

Heard the one about the man who went to the doctor to get help for his depression? He's told to go and see a show with a well known comedian who would make him laugh and lift his spirits. "But that's me," says the patient. "I'm the comedian!"

Humour often develops as a response to depression and works as a coping mechanism. Natural comics tend to be superior in intelligence, but also angry, suspicious and depressed. Their comedic skills may well have developed as a means of compensating for earlier psychological losses and difficulties. A significant proportion of comedians do seem to suffer more with depression - think of the late Anthony Hancock and Spike Milligan. Comedy seems to act as a way of dealing with depression. Their comic style that went along with their depressive disorders seemed to feed their creativity.

Are you a creative thinker?

Creativity is an ability to make new combinations and it is one of the most highly valued of human qualities. However, such thinking is often unconventional - that's what makes it creative. It is for this very reason that psychologists over the years have equated creativity with ‘madness', whilst others think that it might be an important component of the special abilities of genius!

So, what is it - madness or genius?

Researchers have now discovered a connection between creativity and psychopathology. A theoretical connection has been drawn between creative functioning and unusual or regressed thinking processes. Almost any extraordinary performance or creative achievement, then - whether it is in comedy, writing, music, poetry, philosophy, dance, art, sculpture or intellectual discovery - could have fuelled the belief that there is "no great genius without some touch of madness".

Modern psychology now breaks down the old concept of ‘madness' into such disorders as schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder, depression, personality disorder etc. or even alcoholism in creative individuals. Research is also showing that traits associated with different mental illnesses have different effects on creativity. The creativity needed to develop the theory of relativity, is, for example, very different from that required for producing surreal paintings or poetry.

Although one would think that emotional instability is detrimental to creativity, it can also be advantageous!  It may provide the intense motivation, the conviction, egocentrism, the unconventionality, the imagination and the inspiration so necessary for new discoveries and breakthroughs.

The big question is: do we need to be ill to be creative? Can one lead a peaceful and pleasant life and still have hopes of being innovative? I suppose the answer is in the many creative people with no reported mental instability, e.g. William Shakespeare, William James, Aldous Huxley, Carl Jung, Camille Pissarro, Duke Ellington etc. Indeed, some researchers actually suggest a connection between creativity and mental health rather than mental illness.

So, there are conflicting results. Is mental illness essential or merely incidental to the creative process? Do mental symptoms or emotional distress represent the consequence of creative activity - the price to be extracted for relentlessly pursuing the unknown - or the very impetus for discovery and innovation?

It's amazing to think that mental illness has been around for thousands of years. Evolutionary theory suggests that in order for mental illness to be still here, there must have been some kind of survival advantage to it. If it were wholly bad, natural selection would have seen it off long ago. In some cases the advantage is clear.

Anxiety, for example, can be a mental illness with severe symptoms and consequences, but it is also a trait that can have survival advantages. In healthy proportions, it keeps us alert and on our toes when threats are sensed.

So, some forms of mental instability have been sustained evolutionarily to help us survive; similarly, to make us creative and improve.

One thing's for sure:  this is not a new question. Two thousand years ago in Rome, the philosopher Seneca was obviously already on the case when he wrote: "There is no great genius without a tincture of madness."