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The stereotype - There is the common stereotype that those who are creative are more likely to have a mental illness. For years the stereotype of the depressed intellectual, or bipolar artist, or anything of the same ilk, has prevailed in our society.

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Origin - A lot of this stereotype has branched out from the fact that there have been creative geniuses who also had a mental illness, such as Vincent van Gogh or Virginia Woolf.

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Modern examples - There is also the 27 Club, a group of famous creatives who died at 27 including Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970), Kurt Cobain (1967-1994), and Janis Joplin (1943-1970).

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Link - Most of the time, if one is truly ill as van Gogh was, then it is very hard to produce work. There seems to be the belief that their work could only be created because of their mental illness, but that can be highly questioned.

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Link - That mental health causes creativity or vice versa has very little evidence to support it apart from some famous examples. If there is any link, it is more likely to be a correlation rather than a causation. (Pictured: Percy Shelley)

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Genius - The special cases of world-famous individuals are anomalies when looking at the wider link between creativity and mental health because they are geniuses, or, in other words, not your average person. (Pictured: John Keats)

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Where did it start? - The stereotype started with a simple quote by Aristotle (384-322 BCE). He stated that “no great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.” However, “madness” does not necessarily mean mental illness. (Pictured: Plato and Aristotle)

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Stereotype - From then on, people thought that genius brought about mental illness. It then evolved to the belief that creativity was linked to mental illness, but they are two very different things.

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Creativity - To understand why we have overemphasized the link between creativity and mental illness, we must define creativity. The formal definition is the quality of being able “to produce through imaginative skill.”

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Creativity - The definition should be more comprehensive to encapsulate what we mean when we talk about it in reference to mental illness. Dr. Gregory J. Feist, a lead researcher in the field of creativity and psychology, suggests that there are two criteria.

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Creativity - When you are creative, what you produce has to be both “original” and “meaningful to some group of people.”

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Social idea - Creativity is actually a social label. Take van Gogh as an example. He was not thought of as creative until after his death because his paintings didn’t hold any meaning for other people during his lifetime. The public just thought he had no skill.

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Mental illness - Now, we have to look at the baseline. If people think that mental health is linked to creativity, we should first know how many people have a mental illness. We will use statistics from the US as an example.

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How many? - According to the National Institute of Mental Health, almost one in five American adults live with a mental illness.

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What does this include? - This includes the seven main types of mental disorders: mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, eating disorders, trauma-related disorders, and substance abuse disorders.

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Creative - People who are creative in their field are often at the top because they are bringing something new to the table and it is meaningful to others. This does not just mean in the arts, but also in the natural sciences and social sciences. (Pictured: Marie Curie)

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Study - Dr. Fiest decided to carry out a study on the world’s most creative people. He wanted to find out if the “mad-genius” myth was true.

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Method - He and his team went through the biographies of people who were considered creative by the population. They collected details on whether they had any kind of mental illnesses. They categorized people into artists and scientists.

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Control group - In order to have something to compare the result to, the team also collected data from athletes' biographies because the job was not considered to be very creative.

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Results -

In 2016, when the study was conducted, research stated that 46% of Americans would meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition sometime in their lifetime. Dr. Fiest found that all creative and non-creative people who had biographies written about them had an elevated chance of having a mental illness.

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Results -

The scientists were at 61% and the artists were at 86%. Interestingly, the athletes were at 62% which indicates that it is not the creativity that might induce a mental illness, but another factor.

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Results - While immediately it may seem like the stereotype is confirmed, take a step back before you make this assumption. The study also found that scientists are more likely to commit suicide than artists, and that athletes have more problems with substance abuse.

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Why? - The researchers believe that creative people in the sciences are more likely to take their own lives because there is less of an expressive outlet in their work.

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Artists - The researchers also theorize that the reason some of these creatives would have gotten into art in the first place is because it is a way of coming to terms with your own reality.

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Link - It seems that creativity does not necessitate nor compound mental illness, but is a way to deal with it. This could be why people who are more prone to mental illness are drawn to creative professions.

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Great creatives - Bear in mind that the kind of creativity that is discussed in the study comprises a rare group of people, those who have become famous off the back of their creations. In reality, not all people who do so have a mental illness.

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Conclusion - It seems that in the cases of people who are known for being creative, artists are more apt to have a mental illness, but this is not the only variable. Fame, upbringing, and so many other factors play a role as well.

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Stereotype - Our stereotype that creativity breeds mental illness and vice versa does not stand true for most people. It just so happens that those who tend to have a mental disorder look to the creative professions because they help to deal with their issues. (Picture: Sylvia Plath)

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Help -

If you are struggling with mental health, there are many outlets out there ready to help. Search “mental illness hotline” to find a helpline near you.

Sources: (Moraine Valley Community College Library) (National Institute of Mental Health) (Indian Journal of Psychiatry)

See also: Famous people who were diagnosed with schizophrenia

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