Mental illness – the ultimate thinking outside the box.

John says:

That bit about schizophrenics and creatives is pretty much the premis behind Aldous Huxley’s essay, Heavan and Hell. In Doors of Perception, he links drug use to the same idea.

Student says:

Very interesting- although it doesn’t involve thinking caps (lol!) Anyways, I don’t think there is a border between madness and creativity. Both of these characteristics blend together- like how colors of the rainbow are fused together, but not at any specific point. However, I still think mad creativity is rarity. In these exceptional cases, a mental disorder becomes an advantage rather than a handicap. All what we sane people can do is appreciate the creative works of these mental people.

Harrison says:

I think children would be able to pull the clouds down and shape them like sand castles, then they’d be able to fly them in the sky and show them off like 3D kites. There could be whole amusement parks centered around riding the clouds, showing off the best-looking one, and even racing them.

Or a boy would be trapped in one and a news crew would follow it for hours before realizing he was in an attic all along.

Mike Gio says:

This is the first time I have ever been thankful that neither my parents nor I are creative in any way or fashion.

The real question is, should people who are inherently creative, and who have never experienced mental illness, pay closer attention to their own mental faculties? Then again, maybe they shouldn’t. The rest of the world would benefit from their creations.

Dustin says:

Sorry Nick #1 George Lucas is a nut case. Did you see the last Indiana Jones flick? Like I said a nut case!

OhJapan says:

I used to be a really creative person and I am “creatively resourceful” and have a good eye still, but thats about it. I used to suffer greatly, though, from bipolar disorder. There were times I felt very lucky to have the influx of these flight of ideas but that was just it, they felt like birds swooping in and taking over pretty much all the time, I had no control over what I felt or thought about no matter what. Sometimes I’d become euphoric with where it would take me and it made me feel superior to others, but just as often it was just bad, thats something I can’t remember too well but it was very very bad sometimes I guess like a bad trip would be. It also made me alienating to people and made me feel alienated and I when I was depressed it was extremely debilitating, and probably the worst torture I will ever have to go through. But I did get a fine arts degree and people did seem to think I was talented. So, of course, when I did end up getting on medication, my life changed dramatically. It put a damper on my completely messed up highs and lows and with it my creativity, boom! Both were almost gone — I was almost a completely different kind of person. It was like a light switch went off, it was not a gradual change. How could the two not be linked? It just goes to show that whatever mechanism was causing me to have this horrible disorder was also causing me to have these crazy thoughts that yes were able to give me some creative talent along with it. It makes me sad sometimes that I miss “the old me” but at the same time I know the medication saved my life. I mean, can a person be as creative as say Kurt Vonnegut without being mentally ill in some way? He was a creative genius, and he tried to commit suicide as well at one point.

Jennifer says:

As a master artist, and someone with asperger’s syndrome, I find that the place my illness comes from and my art are symbiotic. Having taught at the Academy of Art I found most of my students suffered from some from of mental disease or defect. Most were just your average self cutting borderline personality disorder types.