The Mad Artist's Brain: The Connection between Creativity and Mental Illness

More evidence for the long-suspected physiological link between inventiveness and mental illness ... The popular perception of creative thinkers and artists is that they often also have mental disorders -- the likes of Vincent van Gogh or Sylvia Plath suggest that creativity and madness go hand in hand. Past research has tentatively confirmed a correlation; scientific surveys have found that highly creative people are more likely to have mental illness in their family, indicating a genetic link. Now a study from Sweden is the first to suggest a biological mechanism: highly creative healthy people and people with schizophrenia have certain brain chemistry features in common. A research team at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm studied 13 mentally healthy, highly creative men and women. As noted in the paper published in May in PLoS ONE, other scientists had previously found that divergent thinking, or the ability to “think outside the box,” involves the brain’s dopamine communication system. The Swedish research team used PET scanning to determine the abundance of a particular dopamine receptor, or sensor, in the creative individuals’ thalamus and striatum, areas that process and sort information before it reaches conscious thought -- and that are known to be involved in schizophrenia. The team found that people who had lower levels of dopamine receptor activity in the thalamus also had higher scores on tests of divergent thinking -- for instance, finding many solutions to a problem. Previous work has shown that people with schizophrenia also have lower dopamine receptor activity in the thalamus -- and the scientists suggest in their paper that this striking similarity demonstrates a “crucial” link between creativity and psychopathology. “Thinking outside the box might be facilitated by having a somewhat less intact box,” writes lead author Fredrik Ullén, a cognitive scientist at Karolinska. [22 November 2010 - Scientific American - By Elizabeth King Humphrey - More]

National Creativity Network Launched in Oklahoma City

In conjunction with the seventh annual Creativity World Forum 2010 held in Oklahoma City, November 15-17, the National Creativity Network officially launched at a special meeting with Founding Chair, Sir Ken Robinson, on November 15 from 9:00-11:30 am at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel.

For two years, creativity and innovation leaders in the U.S. have gathered with Sir Ken Robinson and leaders in Oklahoma who began a statewide creativity movement, Creative Oklahoma, linking education, commerce and cultural efforts, in 2006. On November 15, representatives from the states of Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York joined with Oklahoma leaders to announce the formation of a new National Creativity Network, linking statewide and regional creativity initiatives in the United States.

The National Creativity Network will facilitate the exchange of ideas, share best practices, and encourage collaboration among partnering geographic districts committed to creativity and innovation in America across the three sectors of education, commerce, and culture. Network members are committed to the urgent need in the U.S. to nurture and promote the development and expression of creativity and innovation, in education, in business and in the community; ideas and actions so that America can remain a world leader in innovation, discovery, free enterprise, and learning.

“As the pace of change quickens around the world, many communities throughout America are facing powerful economic challenges. In addition to the recession, they include the decline of old industries and the need to generate new forms of businesses and employment. Patterns of community life also continues to change and evolve, causing social challenges,” explains Sir Ken Robinson, Author of The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything and Founding Chairman, National Creativity Network.

“To face these challenges, we must develop high levels of imagination. Throughout the country there are many regions that are rising magnificently to these challenges. The purpose of the National Creativity Network is to connect these regions so that they can support and enrich each other's work and promote the vital spirit of economic and social innovation across the whole United States," said Robinson.

The National Creativity Network will be based in Oklahoma City with a national board. Sir Ken Robinson is the Founding Chair and George Tzougros, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Arts Board, is the Board Chairman.

NATIONAL CREATIVITY NETWORK BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sir Ken Robinson, Founding Chairperson, NCN
International Creativity, Innovation, and Human Resources Consultant
California

Dennis Cheek, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Pennsylvania

Steven Dahlberg
Director
International Centre for Creativity and Imagination
Connecticut

Carrie Fitzsimmons
Executive Director
ArtScience Labs
Massachusetts

Jean Hendrickson
Executive Director
Oklahoma A+ Schools/University of Central Oklahoma

Wendy Liscow
Program Officer
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
New Jersey

Susan McCalmont
Executive Director
Kirkpatrick Foundation
Oklahoma

Robert Morrison
Founder
Quadrant Arts Education Research
New Jersey

Scott Noppe Brandon
Executive Director
Lincoln Center Institute
New York

David O’Fallon
President
Minnesota Humanities Center

Mark Robertson
Attorney
Robertson & Williams
Oklahoma

Susan Sclafani
Director, State Services
National Center on Education and the Economy
Washington, DC

George Tzougros
Executive Director
Wisconsin Arts Board

[15 November 2010 - Creative Oklahoma For more information, contact: Kathy Oden-Hall, Creative Oklahoma, 405-203-5742, kodenhall@stateofcreativity.com]