Creative people face schizophrenia risk

Washington: If you are much of an artistic person and have those 'creative' genes in you, then your risk of developing schizophrenia and bipolar disorder according to new research is very high.

A recent research done by the King's College, London lends support to the direct influence on creativity of genes found in people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

Although creativity is difficult to define for scientific purposes, researchers consider a creative person to be someone who takes novel approaches requiring cognitive processes that are different from prevailing modes of thought or expression.

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are disorders of thoughts and emotions, which means that those affected show alterations in cognitive and emotional processing.

During the research, researchers found that genetic risk scores for both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were significantly higher in creative individuals, with scores approximately halfway between the general population and those with the disorders themselves.

Author Robert Power said that their findings suggest that creative people may have a genetic predisposition towards thinking differently which when combined with other harmful biological or environmental factors can lead to mental illness.

The research is published in journal Nature Neuroscience.