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    Am J Psychiatry. 1987 Oct;144(10):1288-92.

    Creativity and mental illness: prevalence rates in writers and their first-degree relatives.

    Source

    Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City 52242.

    Abstract

    Rates of mental illness were examined in 30 creative writers, 30 matched control subjects, and the first-degree relatives of both groups. The writers had a substantially higher rate of mental illness, predominantly affective disorder, with a tendency toward the bipolar subtype. There was also a higher prevalence of affective disorder and creativity in the writers' first-degree relatives, suggesting that these traits run together in families and could be genetically mediated. Both writers and control subjects had IQs in the superior range; the writers excelled only on the WAIS vocabulary subtest, confirming previous observations that intelligence and creativity are independent mental abilities.

    PMID:
    3499088
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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