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.
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