[dkhar]

That was an interesting article/book summary. The main idea (that there exists a correlation artistic creativity and mood disorders) is something I've observed anecdotally.

I get the impression, however, that it serves the end of history and entertainment more than it does those of science. The examples in the article were light on sample sizes and heavy on speculation ("Is mental illness caused by creativity? Maybe it's the other way around! Who knows?"). I wonder if the book it's about offers more solid corroborating sources.

[theoh]

The article definitely shows too much respect to psychiatry, which is much less rigorous than lay people often assume. Richard Bentall has written some accessible books debunking the supposedly scientific basis of diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Compounding the lack of rigor, studies of creativity are generally at the frivolous and self-indulgent end of the field.