Toward interaction of affective and cognitive contributors to creativity in bipolar disorders: a controlled study.
BACKGROUND
Enhanced creativity in bipolar disorder patients may be related to affective and cognitive phenomena.


METHODS
32 bipolar disorder patients (BP), 21 unipolar major depressive disorder patients (MDD), 22 creative controls (CC), and 42 healthy controls (HC) (all euthymic) completed the Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory (NEO), the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A), the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI); the Barron-Welsh Art Scale (BWAS), the Adjective Check List Creative Personality Scale, and the Figural and Verbal Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Mean scores were compared across groups, and relationships between temperament/personality and creativity were assessed with bivariate correlation and hierarchical multiple linear regression.


RESULTS
BP and CC (but not MDD) compared to HC had higher BWAS-Total (46% and 42% higher, respectively, p<0.05) and BWAS-Dislike (83% and 93% higher, p<0.02) scores, and higher MBTI-Intuition preference type rates (78% vs. 50% and 96% vs. 50%, p<0.05). BP, MDD, and CC, compared to HC, had increased TEMPS-A-Cyclothymia scores (666%, 451% and 434% higher, respectively, p<0.0001), and NEO-Neuroticism scores (60%, 57% and 51% higher, p<0.0001). NEO-Neuroticism and TEMPS-A Cyclothymia correlated with BWAS-Dislike (and BWAS-Total), while MBTI-Intuition continuous scores and NEO-Openness correlated with BWAS-Like (and BWAS-Total).


CONCLUSIONS
Relatively small sample size.


CONCLUSIONS
We replicate the role of cyclothymic and related temperaments in creativity, as well as that of intuitive processes. Further studies are needed to clarify relationships between creativity and affective and cognitive processes in bipolar disorder patients.
Srivastava
Shefali
S
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5723, USA.
Childers
Meredith E
ME
Baek
Ji Hyun
JH
Strong
Connie M
CM
Hill
Shelley J
SJ
Warsett
Kimberley S
KS
Wang
Po W
PW
Akiskal
Hagop S
HS
Akiskal
Kareen K
KK
Ketter
Terence A
TA
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003405:Creativity; D003527:Cyclothymic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013694:Temperament; D055815:Young Adult