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Everyday creativity and bipolar and unipolar affective disorder: preliminary study of personal and family history

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

R Richards
Affiliation:
Research Center, Laboratories for Psychiatric Research, Mailman McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02178, USA
DK Kinney
Affiliation:
Research Center, Laboratories for Psychiatric Research, Mailman McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02178, USA
H Daniels
Affiliation:
Research Center, Laboratories for Psychiatric Research, Mailman McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02178, USA
K Linkins
Affiliation:
Research Center, Laboratories for Psychiatric Research, Mailman McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02178, USA
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Summary

Preliminary new data support the enhancement of ‘everyday’ creativity among those persons with bipolar disorders who manifest milder rather than more severe mood elevations, and among certain individuals who are likely to carry bipolar liability but themselves show no clinical mood elevations – in this case, unipolar depressives with a family history of bipolar disorder, when compared with depressives lacking this history. Creativity was assessed using the lifetime creativity scales (Richards el al, 1988). Underlying mechanisms may be multifactorial and complex. Results suggest that both personal and family history should be considered when making predictions concerning creativity and affective disorders.

Type
Original article
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier, Paris 1992

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