Vincent Van Gogh painted Starry Night while in a mental institution.
(4-26-24) Are bipolar disorder and creativity linked?
In her groundbreaking 1996 book, Touched By Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, argued that “many artists subject to exalted highs and despairing lows were in fact engaged in a struggle with clinically identifiable manic-depressive illness.”
Her book helped promote the idea that artistry/creativity and bipolar disorder are linked. The 2001 Academy Award winning movie, A Beautiful Mind, further cemented in the public’s mind that genius and serious mental illnesses go hand-in-hand.
Gabe Howard, a talented speaker, popular mental health podcaster, author, and tireless advocate for those living with bipolar disorder, writes that the “narrative of mental illness as the source of creativity is simply untrue.”
What’s your opinion? Are creative people more prone to bipolar disorder? Does the illness foster creativity?
What We Get Wrong About Being Bipolar | Opinion
By Gabe Howard, first published in Newsweek Magazine. Used with author’s permission.
As someone who lives with bipolar disorder, there are many things about my life that society gets wrong, one of which is that people with bipolar disorder are more creative than the rest of the population.