“Creativity in Manic-Depressives, Cyclothymes, Their Normal Relatives, and Control Subjects”, 1988 (; backlinks):
Studies of creativity and affective illness typically focus on eminent individuals in specific fields. This is the first study to select subjects solely by diagnosis, and then evaluate their overall creative accomplishments.
Seventeen manic-depressives, 16 cyclothymes, and 11 normal 1st-degree relatives were compared with 33 controls with no personal or family history of major affective disorder [bipolar disorder], cyclothymia, or schizophrenia; 15 controls were normal and 18 carried another diagnosis. Peak creativity was assessed by raters blind to subjects’ diagnosis with the use of the Lifetime Creativity Scales.
Orthogonal contrasts showed (1) creativity to be statistically-significantly higher among the combined index subjects (manic-depressives, cyclothymes, and normal relatives) than among controls (p < 0.05), (2) no statistically-significant difference between normal and ill controls, and (3) suggestively higher creativity among normal index relatives than among manic-depressives (p < 0.10). (Cyclothymes fell close to normal relatives.)
Liability for manic-depressive illness may carry advantages for creativity, perhaps particularly among those individuals who are relatively better functioning.