|
In 1987 Andreasen completed
a 15 year study of faculty members involved in the creative writing
workshop at the University of Iowa. The study examined 30 creative writers,
30 controls, with equal intelligence and in the same social class. Also, the study included close
relatives of the groups.
This study showed that writers have a substantially
higher rate of mental illness with a tendency to have bipolar
attacks. Also, close relatives
show a higher prevalence of affective disorder and creativity.
The statistics are as follows:
80% of the writers suffered an attack at some time
30%
of the controls
13% had mild attacks of
mania and depression (requiring medical treatment)
30% had severe attacks (requiring admission to hospital)
37% of writers had a major depression
17%
of the controls
30% alcoholism
7%
7% drug abuse
7%
Andreasen
found that most writers write when their mood is normal, not when
elevated or depressed (Jamison).
|
