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Creativity May Be Linked with Psychiatric Disorders (Schizophrenia/Bipolar)

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posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 03:49 PM
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I read about this a few months back, but what really made me consider whether there could be a link between creativity and mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disease and depression was when I was watching a documentary about the mathematician John Nash. I think it was called "A genius descent into madness" or something like that. Fascinating and terrifying documentary for anyone interested.

The thing is, unfortunately, that I had a psychosis a few years ago. It was the most awful experience I've had in my entire life, but gave me a new perspective on things afterwards. Changed my life completely. Had to patch myself back together honestly.

Anyway, while watching the documentary, it struck me that Nash had many of the same symptoms as I did during his own psychosis. Symptoms like paranoid schizophrenia, a sense of divine purpose, paranoid delusions, way out there conspiracy theories... "Waking up" from such a thing is truly surreal.
The narrator revealed that Nash suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and that's when I made the connection personally. Here's a guy with a slightly different than the avarege person's brain and the guy has the genetic tendency to develop schizophrenia (probably other mental disorders too).

Now, I'm not a genius (not by far), but I am extremely creative and I have been all my life. I've painted, I've sung, I have written and I have played music. It's what defines me as a person, along with the fact that I am also extremely thoughtful and unfortunately, depressed, which is something I have also always been.

So this discovery doesn't surprise me and didn't when I read about it. I had already had the theories confirmed by my own misfortunate experience.
So here I am today, never diagnosed and not interested in visiting a psychiatrist for treatment, but nevertheless totally aware that I run the risk of developing schizophrenia in the future if my mind is unable to handle stressful situations further ahead. I can deal with the depression and constant thoughtfulness though. It's simply who I am and won't go away like an ugly birthmark or other physical defect.

Just thought it'd be appropriate to share a bit of my story and thoughts on this since it relates to the topic. Maybe a shared too much...



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 03:53 PM
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Sometimes my monologue is sleepin in my head, usually then it #s up everything, when its awake. It kinda tells me, hey u dumb # wtf u saying! Now tell them to have a nice day! Oy i know u wanna # her, be smooth i want that pusssssaaaa! Sometimes its just peace and quiet, but normally that #er just keeps going, hey you fat #, Gym TIME! I wann flex!



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 03:55 PM
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a reply to: GENERAL EYES

Thank you for sharing. It's not hard to tell that you're creative when reading your post; you write beautifully! Very gripping!



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 04:22 PM
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a reply to: nwtrucker

My ilk? You mean a psych patient? Because that is what I am. PTSD and seven other diagnoses. As for shrinks? Been through about 30 and only found two worth a damn. My first, ironically - and the one I have now. In between they were all Prozac pushers and, since I don't tolerate SSRI's or SSNRI's well - their one trick didn't work for me.

How you see me as defending pharmaceutical companies is confusing as well. I only pointed out that they do NOT research mental health medications at all. Seriously. Investigate it. Other than that I don't recall doing any cheerleading on their behalves. As a liberally minded person they irk me to no end because of their gross profit margins and naked greed. Literally sucking fortunes from the sick and preferring treatment to cures ( which I am positive they have for at least some diseases that they don't own up to ).

As for the history of psychiatry? Not my doing. But not too long ago the town barber was usually also the town surgeon - so all medicine had it's rather barbaric stages.

Nope. The only place I see that we disagree is that you have stated there is no such thing as Bipolar, and I corrected you - from the point of view of a person who is Bipolar.



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 04:31 PM
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a reply to: bastion

Since we don't have state run health care its more of a free for all within certain guidelines for accepted therapy thorough the healthcare provider. That changed somewhat during Obama.

I think if the therapy helps the person achieve the goal of their own behavior expectations it is a good thing. I think medication is where things get tricky. We can surely see the effects of drugs on the brain through cat scans but a lot of what we are doing is purely experimental with hopes to learn more.

In the us we have been loading up troops from the two wars with massive cocktails of drugs to deal with PTSD. Which is obviously a terrible solution. Drugs should be a very carefully considered option and especially so for children. We can't be loading kids up with stimulants because they need physical activity and hands on learning. How do we know their brains wouldn't even out as they come to age? Is testing and grading really more important than having a natural brain chemistry? Mental illness's most undiagnosed problem is society itself and thats much harder to fix.



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 04:32 PM
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a reply to: ABeing

Thanks for sharing that!

One suggestion I would like to make, based upon experience and years of dealing not just with my own issues, but knowing and watching others struggle as well. Find a person you trust and then trust them to be your behavioral yardstick. Somebody who really knows you... Spouse, sibling, parent, friend... whoever.

Sit THAT person down and ask them, bluntly, to let you know if you ever start behaving in a way that worries them. Sadly a lot of people will go out of their way to avoid saying so - being protective... and that can be harmful to a person with problems.

One of the big jokes in it all is that sometimes we can't tell when we aren't right and it does take somebody else saying "Are you OK? You've been acting kind of off lately..." to provide us with some perspective.

I hope that isn't too intrusive. It's just a hard learned lesson that I try to share whenever applicable.



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 04:41 PM
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a reply to: Hefficide

Thanks a lot for the advice! I will definitely do that. I have a very good friend, my best that is, that I trust enough to share this with.




posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 04:43 PM
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a reply to: bastion

OK. Not everyone has direct or immediate reactions. The percentile is, apparently, small.

When 500,000 two year olds or younger are prescribes these, I suggest that is flat out wrong.

The theme of this thread is a signal example of the out of control aspect of these 'treatments'. I personally know people who were messed up by Zantac, never mind the substances you take.

There are many testimonials to those who suffered mightily from the same...google it. Not everyone suffers from it.

Too many do suffer from it to be rubber-stamped as 'cure'. Especially when 10s of Billions in profit are realized from them.



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 05:02 PM
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a reply to: Hefficide

Fair enough.Then let me clarify 'bi-polar".

The TV fades to commericial..."If you suffer from Bi-Polar dis-order you need not suffer"...on and on. Self diagnosed, prescribed, rubber-stamp, by G.P.s without any further clinical evaluation whatsoever.

As far as research goes, it well over-laps between spheres. Check out who funds these research projects. The medical industry or those who profit from them. Three guess are permitted.


genesight.com...

Here's a perfect example. It treats the symptoms. Their own words, not mine. Not the cause of the symptoms. It apparently relieve the symptoms for some, for some side-affects known and unknown, either while taking the meds or when quitting them. For some? Mass murders, a soaring suicide rate all directly connected to these treatments...of course the cry is we need more facilities more professional care...more money. A heck of a slick game...

Mask the symptoms, there's no need to find a cure...



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 06:26 PM
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a reply to: nwtrucker

I strongly suspect Aldous Huxley was right on the mark when he wrote about the individual consciousness being overwhelmed by the life in industrialized environments. In such environments, those who are able to adapt to the mechanized routines fair well, while those more inclined to slower moving and more rural life tend to become disaffected by the environment they find themselves in.

Huxley advocated the use of sedatives (in varied forms) to help ease the psychic disconnect in such industrialized areas. It helps to calm the psychotic from the wealth of stimulus and noise, and one of the main reasons I suspect we will see a greater allowance of medicinal marijuana en masse throughout the country.

Human beings are not components of another mans industrialized dreams and visions - but all too often we find ourselves surrounded by expansive growth that we cannot control. Parks and forest lands being stripped and replaced with mini-malls and suburban landscapes that further push away traditional rural life and the natural world with a synthetic "ideal".

Many of the causes of psychic disconnect stem from the spread of commerce endeavors at the expense of a slower more relaxed life.

Recommended reading : "Brave New World Revisited" : Aldous Huxley.
He more or less covers the causes and suggests a medicinal buffer.

edit on 6/10/15 by GENERAL EYES because: grammar edit



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 06:31 PM
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I promise you bi polar disorder is real.

I recently found out about this after going manic. I had no idea what it wa a before until I started working with professionals and now that I am acutely aware of manic episodes I know for its real. The mood stabilizers work and I deal with the down swings on my own with meditation and prayer.



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 06:58 PM
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Ahhh, just the convenient anecdote we needed to kindle the flames for a good ol' witch hunt! It would make McCarthy proud! We can string these communists up with thoses rebel rouser internet truthers/deniers, political independents, and miscreants who liberally delete their Search history!!! Yippie! Stock the residential centers men! We just installed cameras on their prison cells so we can even watch them take a crap!!! Tv dinner tonight boyz!
edit on 10-6-2015 by trifecta because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 07:25 PM
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originally posted by: Hefficide
a reply to: nwtrucker

Not only can they name the chemicals in the brain ( dopamine, serotonin, norepinepherine, ect ) and explain how and why they work - they can use cat scans to watch it happening in real time. The only "unknown" is that with some medications they are unsure how and why they effect these chemicals in the manner that they do.

I am not sure where you are getting your information from, but it's incorrect and misleading.



Not quite.

They can watch these reactions but they cannot, in most circumstances, determine whether or not the brain is compensating with this chemical response for something else. The brain is highly plastic, and these chemical responses are often based in what the individual has experienced, what they have learned. Trauma changes the brain, and trauma does not have to be blood and guts, it can be shame, or neglect or any number of things that aren't obvious or dramatic. Brains will change in response, this does not mean that they are broken and these compensatory neurochemical effects can often be at least mitigated without medication. There is an impetus in psychology to go for a quick fix, and there is a monetary incentive factor built into the system that perpetuates not only the give-em-a-pill perspective but also asserts ubiquitous pressure to create more "disorders" to treat and catastrophize the ones that already exist to make them seem more dire.

Creative people do think differently. Thinking differently often leaves them vulnerable to more trauma because they don't respond socially the way that others expect them to, and some of them may just be more sensitive on a fundamental level. There is of course a tremendous feedback loop aspect here, and while for many that may have a genetic component, when societies are more tolerant of the behavioral idiosyncrasies often associated with those creative personalities, said personalities have a better outcome, and output. In the short, short version; even if you are weird, if you feel safe you are less likely to respond in destructive ways and you are more productive. Right now, our society doesn't have a lot of room for that creative niche. We just want to diagnose them as damaged and drug them into submission.

For the record:

Artist

Psych Student

and Really Weird.
edit on 10-6-2015 by redhorse because: took out an word



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 07:41 PM
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a reply to: luthier


This diagnosis process does not take in account some of these human conditions were required to play natural roles within the Darwinian model. Its actually society requiring people to conform to very unnatural ways of living for some people.

Yes, it DOES take into account EVERY circumstance of the client's life. It's a multi-axial assessment that includes overall functioning, and especially takes into consideration the subjective experience (THE FEELINGS) of the client.


Why do you think that the process doesn't take that into account???

For the Record:

Retired Practitioner, Clinical Social Work

Writer

Former Client




edit on 6/10/2015 by BuzzyWigs because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 08:25 PM
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a reply to: GENERAL EYES

I haven't heard his name in a while..


I know a few Vietnam era types that use Tibetan style retreats to 'chill out' from their activities. Many of them spooks..


Just a site like ATS can be a strain on the morale/well being. Being depressed in this environment isn't always a dis-order. Often a natural and relatively proper response to a depressing real world situation.

One can fall for the hype or change his condition himself. Thank goodness I was born in another era. Today, they'd have had me wired for sound, drug-wise. I made Dennis the Menace look like an angel in comparison. Yet, I grew up and have led a comparatively decent and balanced life. It took a while, but it was done without pills, receptors and chemical balancing. Merely allowed to grow up...



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 08:31 PM
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a reply to: nwtrucker

While I understand your anger at the fact you see people getting ripped off, your dismissiveness concerning those, whom you consider hypocontriacs, only puts the blame in the wrong place. The whole business plan for Western Medicine IS to alleviate/mask the symptoms...to NEVER allow a cure. It is practically their mission statement - DO NOT KILL THE GOLDEN GOOSE! Big Pharma realized early on they needed to force a bottle neck in the Discovery/Distribution Channel. Since they got there first and wrote the charter for the FDA/Drug Laws and co-opted the medical education system; They control the beat of the rythymn...Everybody else dances to their beat. One of the biggest recent successes has been the ability to ADVERTISE on tv...has that aflamed hypocondriaric tendencies in already sick people...YES! as it was designed to.

I sincerely hope you never are afflicted with any knd of mental DIS-EASE...and I am aware of "astroturfing" and Social Engineering on Social web platforms but...your vitriol in mental health matters/issues is anti-progressive.



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 08:34 PM
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originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: luthier


This diagnosis process does not take in account some of these human conditions were required to play natural roles within the Darwinian model. Its actually society requiring people to conform to very unnatural ways of living for some people.

Yes, it DOES take into account EVERY circumstance of the client's life. It's a multi-axial assessment that includes overall functioning, and especially takes into consideration the subjective experience (THE FEELINGS) of the client.


Why do you think that the process doesn't take that into account???

For the Record:

Retired Practitioner, Clinical Social Work

Writer

Former Client





I'm butting in here and it's rude and for that I apologize, but I'm about to get even more rude I suppose, so take it for what it's worth.

I just don't agree. There is absolutely no way that any diagnostic process can take into account EVERY aspect of an individual's life. This sort of rigid, assumptive and frankly arrogant perspective is precisely how even well meaning mental health professionals can end up causing devastating damage to vulnerable individuals. All inclusive language like that gives a false sense of infallibility and authority, and it's just not true.

Plenty of mental health professionals are sensitive, are able to recognize their potential for bias and are able to put things into an appropriate context. Even the best ones can make a mistake in judgment though, no matter how many different Likert Scale tests they have someone take, or even, no matter how much they sit down and talk to someone.

You will never know every aspect of their life. Ever. And in my experience, plenty of mental health professionals will slap a diagnosis (sometimes, even a pretty significant diagnosis) on someone after two hours of talking and maybe a questionnaire or two, get them on a pill, or a cocktail of them and keep them on their rotation for the next year while they "monitor" them and insurance will cover that. Just talk therapy, or a even a straight up cognitive behavioral approach... Pff... Insurance will cover maybe 2 or 4 sessions and that's it. They'll cover those meds though. Heck, even a GP these days can diagnose a mental "disorder" in fifteen minutes and then hand out the meds like candy. Responsibility and a dedication to thoroughness is deteriorating, not getting better in this field.

Psychology and psychiatry can help people, but the system is stacked towards money not compassion (or even competence). You seem pretty compassionate and you were probably great at your job and helped a lot of people. I was surprised to see that sort of all inclusive language from you though, I must admit. Plenty aren't though, and not recognizing the pitfalls in the system and the related pervasive social aspects that give less and less room for anything "abnormal" (save the abnormal that is politicized or agendatized) is just perpetuating sanctioned torment. It's making that social box for those creative personalities tighter and darker as we go.



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 09:35 PM
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a reply to: fshrrex

All in all, I agree with your assessment of the current state of affairs. However, I feel it is incomplete. For some consideration for the actually mentally ill, you omit the current expansion of the Psych/pharma industry.A reliance on the 'experts'. The 'educated'. As you say, the advertising.

I wouldn't have used the term hypochondriac and the thought never crossed.

The outrageous and blithely accepted title of this thread is a perfect example of my point. Again, as you say, don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg. That 'goose' is not only not being 'killed'. it's being fattened..LOL.

At the risk of 'offending' those that are mentally ill, I am more than willing to point out that many aren't mentally ill at all. In fact, faced with what this society offers and the barriers to any perceived success seems beyond them, 'depression' is a natural and reasonable response. Not a mental disorder.

A short cut, via a drug, is what is promoted. I suggest one changes their condition or at least makes the attempt and if necessary again and again, rather than succumb.

Non-conformity is now a mental disorder? The 'list' grows daily. Moments of clarity that leads to a creative insight is now linked to mental dis-orders?

Speaking out against toddlers being on psycho-tropics is 'not progressive'? Perhaps not P.C..

I suggest you relook at both my motivations and the motivations of Big Pharma and Psychiatry in general. You've already named the mechanism quite accurately, from what I can see. There a corollary or two that you've missed.




edit on 10-6-2015 by nwtrucker because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 09:42 PM
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a reply to: nwtrucker

Your totally clueless.

Try having a manic episode with and without mood stabilizers.

To everyone here who has experience they are reading your post and feeling sorry for you. I feel sorry for you its not really your fault your jaded i get it.



posted on Jun, 10 2015 @ 11:29 PM
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a reply to: onequestion

The point is not everyone has manic episodes that are prescribed these chemicals.

Apparently, they affect cognitive ability as well.......



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