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Manic Depression and Creativity

Manic Depression and Creativity


Since the ancient times it was assumed that the madness and creativity often go side by side. Many prominent people who greatly contributed into the progress and evolution of human mind were found to be mentally ill. Many of them were told to have suffered from manic depression. The later researches were directed at finding out the link between mental disorder and creativity.

The majority of viewpoints support the assumption of interdependency between creativity and bipolar disorder. There are, however, other fundamental studies indicating wrongfulness of such viewpoint. This essay will describe bipolar disorder and address studies which suggest that creativity of human mind and the disease are interdependent. Finally, the essay will consider the life activity of Robert Schumann in the light of his illness and provide specific standpoint refuting the fact that creativity is directly influenced by the disorder. It is rather the quantity, not the quality of work that the illness can have an influence on.

The disease, which was previously known as manic depression, is today referred to as bipolar disorder. The disease is life-long and thus should be treated attentively through the whole life of the patient. The illness has many manifestations, thus it is sometimes referred to as bipolar spectrum disorder. It is a set of mood disorders characterized by the episodes of mania, hypomania and depression, which can emerge separately or in mixed states. The depressed states of mood in the bipolar disorder patients are complemented by energized or activated conditions. The duration of the cycles is different and varies in intensity. Patients suffer from fluctuations in energy levels, sleep conditions, thinking capacities, the levels of activity and social rhythm (Bipolar Disorder, 2006).

Patients experiencing depression can be disabled for a long time depending on the level of their depressed state. In the developed cases the symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions, paranoid thoughts. Religiously-affiliated individuals can insist in their special role entitled by God. Patients can be confident of historical significance of their mission to perform, or of their ability to use supernatural powers. They can suffer from some sort of guilt they feel and be aspired to commit suicide (Bipolar Disorder, 2006).

Mania is characterized by critically elevated mood. The course of the disease can be complemented by lesser need for sleep, irritability, hyperactivity, hyper-sexuality, talkativeness, flight-of-ideas, increased religiosity. Unlike mania, hypomania is less severe form of the disease. The patients experiencing hypomania demonstrate elevated energy, euphoria, overflow of new ideas, great charisma. While mania can develop into psychosis, hypomania does not progress into this form and the patients are able to participate in everyday social life (Bipolar Disorder, 2006).

The mixed states of the disease are considered most dangerous. This can include simultaneous tearfulness and manic condition, or racing thoughts at the time of depression. Other symptoms can combine agitation, fatigue, guilt, anxiety, impulsiveness, suicidal thoughts, irritability, panic, rage etc (Bipolar Disorder, 2006).

Bipolar disorder was always known among scholars for its assumed influence on creativity in patients. The greatest works of arts, architecture, music etc. were born in elation or sadness. Creative people can reach those sources ordinary people are restrained from. The ancient Greek attitude to creativity suggested that the man was a mere conduit, an intermediary to whom the muses whispered the novel ideas, the gifts of gods. Plato attributed unordinary talents to divine madness. It is not the secret that creativity and madness often go side by side (Weisberg, 1994, 361). Manic and hypomanic episodes have common traits which are unusual increase of productivity and creativity. This phenomenon evoked deep interest in number of scholars for a long time. Mania results in increase of fluency of thoughts and, for example, can enable patients to speak or think with rhymes. The patients experiencing manic episodes can feel themselves unbounded by conditions. Speaking of the state of mind of manic patients Krishna HimaBindu suggests, "It is as if the walls, which inhibit the general population, do not exist in manic people, allowing them to become creative geniuses. They understand a part of art, music, and literature which normal people do not attempt" (HimaBindu, 1998). The perception of entire life seems to be wider and deeper in manic people than in ordinary. Like some creative people manic patients use little sleep, are restless, feel emotional depth. However, manic creativity is different than that of above-average creative people, which is attributed to strange creative genius of mania-afflicted (HimaBindu, 1998).

The scope of prominent artists, composers, poets, writers etc. was influenced by manic creativity. Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Blake, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sara Teasdale, Walt Whitman are just the handful of geniuses affected by the Disease. Such evident connection of mania and creativity led many researchers into keen studies. In her study, conducted in 1970s, Nancy Anderson found that 80% of 30 examined creative writers had minimum one episode of depression or mania in their life. The later study by K. R. Jamison found that more than one third of British artists and writers, observed during the research, were afflicted with bipolar disorder and were treated for it. The most dominant afflicted group was poets half of which required medication. The biographical research of earlier generations of talented people demonstrated their much greater, compared to general population, rate of suicides (18 times more), unipolar depression (8-10 times more) and bipolar depression (10-20 times more) (HimaBindu, 1998).

The 1949 German study of artists, composers, writers etc. and their families exposed the same patterns. As Nicole Megatulski suggests, about one third of the 113 creative personalities investigated during 1949 research, were not psychically normal. Poets and musicians demonstrated highest rates of psychiatric abnormality with its rate of 50% in poets and 38% in musicians. It was also more typical for artistic individuals to demonstrate insane and neurotic behavior and suicidal inclinations than for general population. Megatulski's research proves that whenever the group of persons occupied in creative arts is compared to people doing other jobs, like business, the first always demonstrate up to three times greater the level of psychosis, disorders, substance abuse and suicidal behavior (Megatulski, 2003).

It was assumed that while the elevated state of the patients' mind can raise their creativity high it is also true that the state of depression can greatly influence and stimulate their creative genius. Those experiencing the phases of depression see boundaries and darkness. From the helplessness they stay in arises creativity. It becomes their only way out of the gloom to release their despair through the works of art (HimaBindu, 1998).

In precise cases the depression and mania episodes in talented people can coincide, thus imparting unexpected uncommonness to their works. Krishna HimaBindu suggests, that such examples can be observed in the works of Sylvia Plath, where, "Some chapters she is full of hope and life, while other chapters read loneliness and desolation" (HimaBindu, 1998). The same is for Tchaikovsky, whose compositions flow with difference in rhythm, tempo, tone etc. Since the phases of mania and depression are chaotic the final products are developed by patients during their normal mind condition (HimaBindu, 1998).

The whole set of undertaken researches proves the fact that creativity and bipolar disorder are linked in precise way. It is not the question anymore whether they are interdependent or not, but it is rather the issue of the reason of their interdependency and the extent of their correlation. Since the bipolar disorder and creativity were found to coexist the reason for each was supposed to lie in the domain of another. The existence of creativity can be explained by the disorder and the latter can be attributed to increased creativity. Nicole Megatulski, however, suggests that the coexisting of disorders and creativity is the result of some third factor. The third factor may be of external character like environmental influence on the development of fetus, hormonal imbalances or other genetic factors. This link, the third factor, is a subject for attentive study by psychiatrists (Megatulski, 2003).

It is really complicated to provide insights and investigation into the sphere linking talent, creativity and madness. For such research it is necessary to find an example. Current research addresses the life of one of indisputable talents, but definitely ill personality, Robert Schumann. The entire life of Schumann is the example of continual fight between darkness and light of human mind. Being brilliant composer he was also recognized to have mental illness (Weisberg, 1994, 362). It is commonly known that Robert Schumann was diagnosed as bipolar patient. As early as 20 years old he demonstrated suicidal behaviors. He experienced periodical depressions and made several attempts on his life. He had various episodes of bipolar disorder through his life. For example, when he was deeply engaged in making music for Faust he experienced shivering and fear of death. He was afraid of high places and avoided any metal objects, even keys. During precise phases of the disease he felt like the note A was continually sounding in his ears (Robert Schumann, 2006). Schumann expressed his change of moods by producing two different alter egos which demonstrate his fluctuation from mania to depression. His Florestan is the one, "With a head so full of ideas that I cannot actually form any of them … and Eusebius, an introspective dreamer" (Weisberg, 1994, 362).

Schumann's family was also not devoid of mental illness. Heredity is one of inherent traits of bipolar disorder. Schumann’s older sister fell sick of mental illness in her 17 and drowned in her 29 (362). One of his sons was also ill and spent 30 years in mental hospital. Robert Schumann himself ended up in private asylum in Endenich, in Germany (Robert Schumann, 2006).

Aforecited researches by Nicole Megatulski and Krishna HimaBindu assume that there is direct relation between bipolar disorder and creativity. In defense of their viewpoints the authors cite the studies and works of the set of scholars. Madness as the possible basis for creativity was studied by Kraepelin in his fundamental research as far back as 1921 and also was recognized to be able to influence creative insights (Weisberg, 1994, 361).

However, another important study of life and creative activity of Robert Schumann, conducted by Robert Weisberg, exhibits doubt and, perhaps, refutation of this assumption. The letter research is based on the studies conducted by the Pleiad of scholars and pretends to disprove the inference, which states that bipolar disorder serves the source for creativity. In his research Robert Weisberg first of all provides the data reflecting direct relation between the rise of Schumann's activity as composer and his disease. Figure 1 shows this interdependency between the mood of the composer and the number of compositions he accomplished in precise years. It reflects the state of composer's mind, whether he was depressed, experienced hypomanic episodes or suffered from mixed states, and the bulk of output with the reference to the year of compositions' completion. (362).

Medical records, personal correspondence of Schumann and biographical data witness that there is positive relation between the mood and the productiveness of the composer. Following figure 1, three years indicating his greatest productivity in number of compositions were also the years of his greatest hypomania. As it is expressed in table 1, during these years he created 4 to 5 times more compositions than during his depression. On the contrary, the least productive years fall at depression episodes (363).
Table 1. Summary of the relationship between Schumann’s mood and productivity.

However the data provided by both, figure 1 and table 1, are not sufficient to support the conclusion about interdependence between the disorder and creativity. As Weisberg suggests, these data could, "allow conclusion only about the influence of hypomania on the quantity of Schumann's compositions." The quality of his works was not measured by the researchers and, as Weisberg suggests, "only an analysis of this latter sort would enable one to test Kraepelin's hypothesis that during Schumann's hypomanic years he produced a greater proportion of high quality compositions than during depressed or neutral years." In his turn, Weisberg performed such a research which, as he states, denies Kraepelin’s assumption (363).

Getting at the root of it Weisberg's research denies both assumptions. The first, stating that creativity of Schumann was influenced by his hypomania, and the counter-assumption, that it was stimulated by the depression. Weisberg indicates that if the mania heightened creativity, then his best and great compositions should have been made while during the manic state. In order to find out whether it was true Weisberg conducted the series of calculations involving the materials of the set of studies on Schumann's life and the Schwann Guide and the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and Cassettes to find out the number of recordings for every composition made in each year of the composer's life. Weisberg also defined absolute and relative proportions of high-quality works and general number of compositions produced by Schumann through his career. Then, these findings were confronted with the data on composer's manic and depressive conditions (363).

The findings, as Weisberg expected, did not support previous researches. For instance, the difference in relative proportions of works produced during hypomanic and depressed years was not significant. The correlations obtained during calculations showed near to zero results which indicated that, "the proportion of high-quality compositions was essentially constant over the years of Schumann's career." These inferences were supported by the previous studies by Dennis and Simonton, which state that, "there tends to be a constancy in the probability that an individual will produce great works." In other words, the years marked with increased production of number of high-quality compositions also gave birth to not lesser number of minor works. Since, the positive changes in the mood of composer simply influenced the speed of his ability to compose, but had no effect on the quality of the works (365).

The same pattern of reasoning was used in the study of the contrary argument stating that creativity is positively influenced not by mania, but the depression. In order to find it out Weisberg has also engaged the research by Richards which represented an inversion of Kraepelin's assumption. The explanation of the counter theory assumed, that depression immerses an individual into secluded inner world which contributes to new ideas and insights to come to the surface of one's mind. Following this logic Robert Schumann should have produced lesser number of works but of high quality. The findings Weisberg obtained refuted this theory either. The research discovered little disparity in the number of high-quality compositions during depressed compared to hypomanic years. The interdependence between relative quality and the quantity of the produced works was also found to be insignificant (365).

As it was mentioned before, there is a proviso assuming that the patient experiencing the episode of bipolar disorder can bring his insights into palpable form only after the episode ends. Then, the research, for instance, should have shown lesser number of high-quality compositions produced by Schumann after his recovery. These expectations, however, did not come true. There was no significant change in the number of high-quality works by Schumann since his mood underwent changes (366).

Although it was generally assumed that bipolar disorder can serve the reason for emerging creativity in patients the research conducted by Robert Weisberg contains inevitable inferences refuting this viewpoint. It refutes both assumptions, that the mania or the depression keeps the keys to one's genius' insights. Second, he finds it true that high change of mood states, experienced by bipolar patients, influences the "quantity" of work of creative person, but not the "quality."

Nevertheless, the study by Weisberg does not diminish the importance and necessity of search for the true patterns of interdependence between bipolar disorder and creativity. It is also true that this research does not lay a claim to absoluteness. The study based on only one instance can not embrace the whole spectrum of the problem, thus the following study requires further instances to be involved and the obtained knowledge to be applied in further research.

The search for the link between madness and creativity, which can exist despite Weisberg's inferences, is also important, especially in the light of the search for the effective cure of bipolar disorder. This day drug treatment destroys that creativity which exists in bipolar disorder patients. There are hopes that more perfect medications will be invented to not to restrict the creativity and, at the same time, allow people to live normal social life. The invention of new pharmacological measures and psychological techniques to help patients withstand the destructive symptoms of the disease, but not to depress the manifestations of unordinary talents should be prompted and supported.





References
Bipolar Disorder. Retrieved July 9, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder
HimaBindu, K.K. (1998). Bipolar Disorder and the Creative Genius. Retrieved July 9, 2006, from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper3/Krishna3.html
Megatulski, N. (2003). Creativity and Bipolar Disorder. Retrieved July 9, 2006, from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro03/web2/nmegatulski.html
Robert Schumann. Retrieved July 9, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Schumann
Weisberg, R.W. (1994). Genius and madness? A quasi-experimental test of the hypothesis that manic-depression increases creativity. Psychological Science, 5(6), 361-367.
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Posted by: Andrew Blanks

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