Help with project on bipolar disorder and creativity

Hi,
My name is Liz and I'm a medical student currently studying bipolar disorder.
I'm trying to find out something about how people with bipolar disorder feel about creativity in particular.
Anything anyone can tell me is helpful.
Do you think bipolar disorder makes you more or less creative than someone without the disorder, or no different?
Do you feel more or less creative whilst taking particular treatments or prophylactics such as lithium?
Do you feel more or less creative during manic, depressive or mixed episodes? Or in between episodes?
Have you a creative job or are studying something creative at the moment, how does having bipolar disorder or taking treatment for it affect this?
Please feel free to email me weepinwalo@yahoo.com or to write back on this forum, as I say anything you can think of will be helpful.
Thanks,
Liz

go read kay jamison's "touched with fire"

i'm an artist and bipolar (or schizoaffectiv, not sure yet...but bipolar at least!)

Do you think bipolar disorder makes you more or less creative than someone without the disorder, or no different?

hard to say - i am an upstanding artist, though, as many people hav told me ... i go through periods of intense work more often when im feeling either down or up, becuz it helps me get away from reality and connect to myself. without the 'disease' i guess my emotions would not be as intense; intensity is something emphasized in my artwork... extreme darks and lights, shapes, etc. i work best when just 'feeling' things and making them reality.. it takes a lot of focused concentration and emotion to guide myself. i like to dance and get pumped up before, during and after a drawing!

Do you feel more or less creative during manic, depressive or mixed episodes? Or in between episodes?

i feel more drive during depressed and manic episodes. during my last manic episode i thought i was taking art to a new level which would redefine the universe - it wasn't the first time (though it was the first time i was actually delusional and not just grandiose). during this time i had a constant itch to be working in my sketchbook - all i had to do was draw and new ideas would flow onto the page. perhaps full of trivial and sporadic jumps fueled only by grandiosity, the progression felt steady and logical at the time
both times i can trace the theories back to one original problem (i can even tell u where/when/what i was doing as they came to me) which i expanded upon over a few months. the ideas came out of me after depressive episodes in december and peaked around end of march...

Have you a creative job or are studying something creative at the moment, how does having bipolar disorder or taking treatment for it affect this?

im a fine arts major. during my manic phases in the spring i didnt get much classwork done, and this year the work i did complete was too bizarre for even my art teachers to accept.

i've done what any sane person only dreams of: my manic phases were the most incredible experiences - i felt at a level equal if not better than any artist before me. i was fueled by needs for both creativity and fame - i still am... but i climbed an invisible mountain, and now i don't know where i've fallen. i always wanted to be a tragic hero - at least now i am in my own mind

where is my art now? lost... forgotten... a lot of broken pieces, i think.. scrambled... i'm still searching for ways to bring back at least some of my ideas. i actually defined art for myself but i cant reproduce it and expect anyone to believe me, so i'm trying to find a way to bring them back into something more... realistic?

-matt

PS. after my last episode i wanted nothing but to be medicated, but i got better and i dont care so much... i just do a lot of self-medication. if u hav any other questions i'd be happy to help.

My guess is that bipolars are on the average far more creative than nonbipolars. I'm certainly more creative when high, but I make a lot more mistakes--some of them quite costly. The energy level of someone in mania is hard to beat for work output. However, when I'm depressed I can do detail work better--I'm slower, but more accurate.

I did research on this topic last year. I wrote an article about my findings. It's on my website. It seems that some of the greatest, creative minds had bipolar disorder.
Jim S

Do you think bipolar disorder makes you more or less creative than someone without the disorder, or no different?

Yes, I do believe it makes me more creative. When I am "manic" I am able to write very amusing and jocular essays and such. I also have a lot of drive to draw and draw and draw.


Do you feel more or less creative whilst taking particular treatments or prophylactics such as lithium?

I feel less creative. I take lithium and it makes me feel dull and stupid.


Do you feel more or less creative during manic, depressive or mixed episodes? Or in between episodes?

During manic episodes I feel the most creative.

Have you a creative job or are studying something creative at the moment, how does having bipolar disorder or taking treatment for it affect this?

I am learning to play the piano. It doesn't really help because I'm not at the stage where I can play and compose amazing works. Maybe in a few years it will play a role.

Thanks to those who wrote back, your comments are very helpful.
How are you finding your treatment at the moment if you are taking treatments?
I have noticed that a lot of people seem concerned about lithium and weight gain, someone mentioned it makes them feel slowed down and dull as well.
Are other drugs better than lithium?
Is there anything which makes you stop taking treatments?
Is it better to be manic and creative or to be slowed down by a drug which makes you feel more 'normal'?
I've tried to get hold of Kay Jamison's book Touched With Fire but someone has it out on loan from our library and wont bring it back!
Thanks again.
Liz

all I have to say is that Kurt Cobain was bipolar

Anyone hear ever read his blood-stained suicide letter?
Well I did and his words: "It's better to burn out than to fade away"really touched me .

Do you think bipolar disorder makes you more or less creative than someone without the disorder, or no different?

More creative - by observation

Do you feel more or less creative whilst taking particular treatments or prophylactics such as lithium?

I have been taking lithium for 7+ years and it curbs creativity and sexuality to a marked extent. Creativity I would guess is down 50-75%; sexual urge is down 75-85%

Do you feel more or less creative during manic, depressive or mixed episodes? Or in between episodes?

I am BP II, ultra ultra rapid cycling - but as I get older I am going towards unipolar depression - when I was young I was more unipolar manic I am more creative in manic cycles. Except for writing poems and short stories which are more frequent in depressions.

Have you a creative job or are studying something creative at the moment, how does having bipolar disorder or taking treatment for it affect this?

I have a partially creative career, and the meds have cut my productivity so I have to compensate with more work and organization, but, still its not as good as it was - and thats not just a perception, its a fact according to my peers and employers.

W

I would like to add some more comments to your questions:

I have noticed that a lot of people seem concerned about lithium and weight gain, someone mentioned it makes them feel slowed down and dull as well.
Are other drugs better than lithium?

I was not on lithium--but the drugs they had me on caused me to gain over 100 pounds. That was real bad for my self esteem--the weight gain caused me to spiral further down into my depression. Our culture does not think vewry highly of very fat people.

Is there anything which makes you stop taking treatments?
Is it better to be manic and creative or to be slowed down by a drug which makes you feel more 'normal'?

If I could stop making big mistakes and bad decisions, mania would be great. We often get these grand plans, then spend all of our money on things that fail. The creative process may include something that allows us to be open to all sorts of ideas. We need some mechanism in place to save us from ourselves--to more critically evaluate our ideas and their consequences. For example, I go to AA meetings and share all my problems and what I'm going through. They can turn me back to reality when I'm really to sell the house to develop some crazy idea.

Jim S