News | May 19, 2010 | 29 comments

Line Between Crazy/Genius Closer Than We Thought

source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100518064610.htm

Image
diode
New research shows a possible explanation for the link between mental health and creativity. By studying receptors in the brain, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have managed to show that the dopamine system in healthy, highly creative people is similar in some respects to that seen in people with schizophrenia.

High creative skills have been shown to be somewhat more common in people who have mental illness in the family. Creativity is also linked to a slightly higher risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Certain psychological traits, such as the ability to make unusual pr bizarre associations are also shared by schizophrenics and healthy, highly creative people. And now the correlation between creativity and mental health has scientific backing.

"We have studied the brain and the dopamine D2 receptors, and have shown that the dopamine system of healthy, highly creative people is similar to that found in people with schizophrenia," says associate professor Fredrik Ullén from Karolinska Institutet's Department of Women's and Children's Health, co-author of the study that appears in the journal PLoS ONE.

Just which brain mechanisms are responsible for this correlation is still something of a mystery, but Dr Ullén conjectures that the function of systems in the brain that use dopamine is significant; for example, studies have shown that dopamine receptor genes are linked to ability for divergent thought. Dr Ullén's study measured the creativity of healthy individuals using divergent psychological tests, in which the task was to find many different solutions to a problem.

"The study shows that highly creative people who did well on the divergent tests had a lower density of D2 receptors in the thalamus than less creative people," says Dr Ullén. "Schizophrenics are also known to have low D2 density in this part of the brain, suggesting a cause of the link between mental illness and creativity."

The thalamus serves as a kind of relay centre, filtering information before it reaches areas of the cortex, which is responsible, amongst other things, for cognition and reasoning.

"Fewer D2 receptors in the thalamus probably means a lower degree of signal filtering, and thus a higher flow of information from the thalamus," says Dr Ullén, and explains that this could a possible mechanism behind the ability of healthy highly creative people to see numerous uncommon connections in a problem-solving situation and the bizarre associations found in the mentally ill.

"Thinking outside the box might be facilitated by having a somewhat less intact box," says Dr Ullén about his new findings.
  1. groups:
    News,   News and Politics,   Science,   Body
  2. tags:
  3.     
    |

29 comments // Line Between Crazy/Genius Closer Than We Thought

  • Benjamin_Heke
    • 0
      Benjamin_Heke  

    • Ohhh that explains why I think alot. Some of my family was crazy like my father had Schizophrenia, I know that its possible I may become crazy. But at the moment I only think lots (I can sit in one position thinking about something for hours on end not caring whether or not I'm moving or even blinking ?!?!) but i have to say some of my sessions were pretty cool! like how a eagle fly's.

      Maybe there is some hope after all

    • 1 month ago
  • Dr_Who
    • Dr_Who [removed]  
    • This comment is in violation of Current's Community Guidelines and has been removed.
  • obamabinladen
  • freecrack
  • Monkey_Films
  • freecrack
  • treewolf39
  • treewolf39
    • +4
      treewolf39  

    • My younger brother has schizophrenia. He is and was the smartest but his high ideals drove him mad. The family jokes that it was the damn hippie collage but really the causes are not known. He is medicated now and the drugs make him tired all the time. Sometimes I don't believe he is sick and that he just can not stand the fucked up shit happening on this planet.

    • 4 months ago
  • freecrack
  • Monkey_Films
  • Dr_Who
  • freecrack
    • +2
      freecrack  
    • Monkey_Films:

      larry king brought to you tonight by fuckitoll the pill that fixes that pesky sense of self. order now and get two free fuckitoll bibs to catch the steady stream of drool you will produce. all of wich are a thousand dollar value, but if you call with in the next 10 minutes it will be yours for 9.99.

      side effects may include,glenn beck appreciation,random excretion,mental paralysis.please talk to "our" doctor before taking fuckitoll

    • 4 months ago
  • treewolf39
  • Einsam_Data
    • +1
      Einsam_Data  

    • It's usually the cool, artistic, creative ones who are written off and dismissed as "crazy". The key is to redefine a few social things and debunk others. (I'm tired)

    • 4 months ago
  • Monkey_Films
    • +4
      Monkey_Films  

    • Why They Think I’m Crazy – Except When They Really Think About It

      Truth and opinion are constantly battling each other for acceptance and the battle is often fought within the context of a zero-sum game. Former New York Senator Moynihan once quipped that we can all have our own opinions, but we can’t all have our own facts. The problem is most humans confuse the one for the other. In fact it is that phenomenon that is the source of much of human misery. Voltaire, the French philosopher once stated, “Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes” (Brainy Quote).

      Truth moves in tandem with fact, but opinion is the one that often masquerades as either. Truth and fact can be elusive, even evasive. Thus, the valid is often difficult to identify or acknowledge and so when presented with an issue, one must sort out, collate and present as is – in all its naked glory – what is fact or truth and what is opinion. Humans often find this task to be daunting and demanding.

      As a matter of course, humans prefer opinion over fact or truth because opinion often does not tax the mind but rather sedates it. Fact and truth are exacting taskmasters whereas opinion often requires mindless compliance, which is the course of least resistance. Once opinion is introduced into the equation, the answers are often the same: Wrong! This is starkly evident in science, religion, politics and all the other realms of the human experience. Opinion has the advantage over truth because humans, as a matter of course, have demonstrated a proclivity for choosing the shiny rock rather than the diamond in the rough.

      Truth and fact are worthy of relentless pursuit, and sometimes they may even take on a fugitive-like stature, but opinion should be slaughtered at every turn – except where it is openly acknowledged that opinion and not fact or truth is at play. When the man called Jesus spoke of truth to Pontius Pilate, Pilate quipped, “What is truth?” He was never given an answer. The philosopher, Diogenes is said to have walked the streets in broad daylight while holding a lantern. When asked why, he is reported to have said he was searching for an honest man. May we all do likewise – searching for facts or truth, and along the way, give no more power to opinion than what it deserves so as to ensure that the fight between the two is fair.

    • 4 months ago
  • freecrack
  • ThoughtNu
    • +4
      ThoughtNu  
    • freecrack:

      I would like to think 'truth' lies outside the boundaries of humanity. That is to say , if a consensus need be agreed upon to vet facts; it it still a consensus, bound to the knowledge of humanity. A 'broken piece of wood', will remain as such no matter what language or how many words i use to describe 'it'. A consensus is not needed. 'It' is what it 'is'....perhaps... thc break

    • 4 months ago
  • freecrack
  • ThoughtNu
    • +1
      ThoughtNu  
    • freecrack:

      Not 'outside our grasp' but rather, outside manipulation (humanities perspective), A leaf doesn't need to be 'understood' or talked down off the tree... everyone changes at different intervals; within this mortal time line as well.

    • 4 months ago
  • treewolf39
    • +1
      treewolf39  
    • ThoughtNu:

      Broken stick and perception. Some will see it as just that and move on. Others see it as firewood and still others see it as trash. Some will take it home as art. To a chimp it may be a tool. A child a toy. If you are fearful it may be used as a weapon. A broken stick can have many faces.

    • 4 months ago
  • ThoughtNu
  • Almibry
    • +1
      Almibry  
    • ThoughtNu:

      Both, and that's the bitch of things. I like to think of truth as being the actual state of matter, but the word is used to describe things that are widely accepted to be true.
      Did you know that there are 11 definitions for truth? I laughed my ass off when I counted.

    • 4 months ago
  • treewolf39
  • Monkey_Films
    • +6
      Monkey_Films  

    • Sometimes one seems crazy only because those 'stuck in the box' can't understand the 'crazy' person's not so crazy thoughts. It's just that the average person doesn't think that way. So, the mass pegs this person as 'out there'.

    • 4 months ago
  • freecrack
  • Omnomynous
    • +3
      Omnomynous  

    • The definition for schizophrenia is to broad anyway... You could have the weird association thing going on, be a little overly introverted, and have conflicting ideas on the same subject and be diagnosed schizophrenic...

      That being said I'm totally nuckin futs, and dumb as a box of rocks, so I'm not really buying it. Still ^'d because I could see how some people are crazy geniuses.

    • 4 months ago
  • treewolf39
  • ThoughtNu
    • +1
      ThoughtNu  

    • Theres a 'box'?... my facial twitch is acting up,...er uh ; nothing the sensory deprivation chamber in my (padded) room can't fix...is dat everyones box...da chamber?...hmn; watz urs? ... thc residue I guess
      nu

    • 4 months ago
  • Almibry
    • +6
      Almibry  

    • "Thinking outside the box might be facilitated by having a somewhat less intact box," Dr Ullén... That's the phrase I'm taking from this.
      That's so cool. I never had a problem with being crazy and now I know that it's because being crazy is an asset.

    • 4 months ago
more from News:
most popular
videos on current tv

from our tv shows