Mental illness, suicide and creativity
Lähetetty: 16.10.2012 13:09Article in Press http://www.journalofpsychiatricresearch ... 22-3956(12)00280-4/abstract
Mental illness, suicide and creativity: 40-Year prospective total population study
Simon Kyaga, Mikael Landén, Marcus Boman, Christina M. Hultman, Niklas Långström, Paul Lichtenstein
Received 12 July 2012; received in revised form 12 September 2012; accepted 14 September 2012. published online 11 October 2012.
A b s t r a c t
We previously demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and their relatives are overrepresented
in creative occupations. Here, we use a new dataset with a considerably larger sample of patients (n = 1,173,763) to
survey other psychiatric diagnoses and to validate previous findings. The specific aims of this study were to i) investigate
if creativity is associated with all psychiatric disorders or restricted to those with psychotic features, and ii) to specifically
investigate authors in relationship to psychopathology. We conducted a nested case–control study using longitudinal Swedish
total population registries, where the occurrence of creative occupations in patients and their non-diagnosed relatives was
compared to that of matched population controls. Diagnoses included were schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar
disorder, unipolar depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, autism, ADHD, anorexia nervosa, and completed
suicide. Creative professions were defined as scientific and artistic occupations. Data were analyzed using conditional logistic
regression. Except for bipolar disorder, individuals with overall creative professions were not more likely to suffer from
investigated psychiatric disorders than controls. However, being an author was specifically associated with increased
likelihood of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, unipolar depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and suicide. In addition,
we found an association between creative professions and first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder,
anorexia nervosa, and for siblings of patients with autism. We discuss the findings in relationship to some of the major components
of creativity.
Keywords: Creativity, Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Autism, Substance abuse, Suicide, Nested case–control study
Mental illness, suicide and creativity: 40-Year prospective total population study
Simon Kyaga, Mikael Landén, Marcus Boman, Christina M. Hultman, Niklas Långström, Paul Lichtenstein
Received 12 July 2012; received in revised form 12 September 2012; accepted 14 September 2012. published online 11 October 2012.
A b s t r a c t
We previously demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and their relatives are overrepresented
in creative occupations. Here, we use a new dataset with a considerably larger sample of patients (n = 1,173,763) to
survey other psychiatric diagnoses and to validate previous findings. The specific aims of this study were to i) investigate
if creativity is associated with all psychiatric disorders or restricted to those with psychotic features, and ii) to specifically
investigate authors in relationship to psychopathology. We conducted a nested case–control study using longitudinal Swedish
total population registries, where the occurrence of creative occupations in patients and their non-diagnosed relatives was
compared to that of matched population controls. Diagnoses included were schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar
disorder, unipolar depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, autism, ADHD, anorexia nervosa, and completed
suicide. Creative professions were defined as scientific and artistic occupations. Data were analyzed using conditional logistic
regression. Except for bipolar disorder, individuals with overall creative professions were not more likely to suffer from
investigated psychiatric disorders than controls. However, being an author was specifically associated with increased
likelihood of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, unipolar depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and suicide. In addition,
we found an association between creative professions and first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder,
anorexia nervosa, and for siblings of patients with autism. We discuss the findings in relationship to some of the major components
of creativity.
Keywords: Creativity, Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Autism, Substance abuse, Suicide, Nested case–control study