• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Creative minds 'mimic schizophrenia'

burymecloser

Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Messages
516
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
6w5
Creative minds 'mimic schizophrenia'

Creativity is akin to insanity, say scientists who have been studying how the mind works.
Chartered psychologist Gary Fitzgibbon says an ability to "suspend disbelief" is one way of looking at creativity.

"When you suspend disbelief you are prepared to believe anything and this opens up the scope for seeing more possibilities.

"Creativity is certainly about not being constrained by rules or accepting the restrictions that society places on us. Of course the more people break the rules, the more likely they are to be perceived as 'mentally ill'."
 

Lady_X

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
18,235
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
784
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
really interesting read thanks for posting.
 

InsatiableCuriosity

New member
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
698
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5
Thank you - this is fascinating and I have bookmarked the link it for future reference :)
 
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
38
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
9w1
I always suspected this. A couple members of my family and myself were creative. But some of them had mental illness that interfered with normal functioning. I like to believe my mental illness is this side of sanity, but at times I wonder.:)
 

MiasmaResonance

New member
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Messages
155
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w?
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Interesting article, especially considering two close family members of mine both have schizophrenia. Thanks for sharing.
 

Lady_X

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
18,235
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
784
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
i have a crazy aunt and my dad was completely nuts he was just so funny and charming that i think most people just assumed he was joking...but i suspect he wasn't.

but...besides that...lots of artists in my family as well so the connection makes sense yep.
 

KDude

New member
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
Messages
8,243
i'd be happy being crazy if i met someone else who was crazy (especially for me. heh). not sure if the creativity is worth it.
 

Lady_X

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
18,235
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
784
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
what a crazy thing to say
 

Mole

Permabanned
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
20,284
An authoritarian upbringing leads to an authoritarian personality. And the authoritarian personality is concerned with bringing order out of chaos.

And although it is admirable to bring order out of chaos, it does have its limitations.

And the limitation of the authoritarian personality is that they can't tell the difference between chaos and creativity. And they tragically try to bring an external order to creativity, and in the process destroy the internal order of creativity.

Yes, the authoritarian personality imposes an external order, while the creative personality discovers the internal order.

And so the authoritarian personality makes the same mistake by not being able to tell the difference between the schizophrenic psychotic and the creative personality.

Yes, with the best intentions in the world, the authoritarian personality is relentlessly destructive of the creative personality.
 

Mole

Permabanned
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
20,284
The opposite is also possible. The child develops a rebellious personality to combat the oppression.

An authoritarian upbringing is a distinct improvement over an abusive upbringing.

For instance, an authoritarian upbringing will compel us to go to school by law to learn to read and write.

So the authoritarian upbringing has given us universal literacy at the relatively mild cost of the projecting personality.

And I think a cost/benefit analysis will show that literacy far outweighs projection.

However the helping mode of child rearing, where we help our children attain their goals, gives us the empathic and creative personality.

And the empathic and creative personality can understand the authoritarian personality. But tragically the authoritarian personality can't understand the empathic and creative personality.

And we see this dynamic acting itself out on these pages.
 

Ingrid in grids

Active member
Joined
Sep 1, 2009
Messages
1,748
Thanks OP, that article was fascinating! Some say that romantic love also mimics mental illness (see Dr Frank Tallis, Love Sick: Love as a Mental Illness). Oh well, I don't mind if I'm mad.
 

nolla

Senor Membrane
Joined
May 22, 2008
Messages
3,166
MBTI Type
INFP
Hmm... That was quite interesting. I have a sort of a block against the info, though... I see creativity as a sign of mental health, so how does that work out? Oh, I am not talking about the most creative-looking people, they are usually phonies just trying to think outside the box because it is fashionable. And I am not talking about the crazies, either. The truly creative people I've met were the sanest people I know. Maybe they once went on the border of insanity, but they came back as good as new.
 

Synapse

New member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
3,359
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4
I'm unconvinced and disagree to some extent, but it is an interesting read nonetheless.
 

Mole

Permabanned
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
20,284
Hmm... That was quite interesting. I have a sort of a block against the info, though... I see creativity as a sign of mental health, so how does that work out? Oh, I am not talking about the most creative-looking people, they are usually phonies just trying to think outside the box because it is fashionable. And I am not talking about the crazies, either. The truly creative people I've met were the sanest people I know. Maybe they once went on the border of insanity, but they came back as good as new.

Longitudinal studies have shown that creative personalities are successful and well balanced. In particular, creative personalities are more successful and well balanced than authoritarian personalities.

However the authoritarian just don't understand the creative and so think they are crazy. Or they think something implausible such as they went to the border of insanity and came back creative.

I think that authoritarian personalities, particularly when they act in a group, are a danger to creative personalities.
 

Resonance

Energizer Bunny
Joined
May 18, 2010
Messages
740
MBTI Type
INfj
Enneagram
6w5
Longitudinal studies have shown that creative personalities are successful and well balanced. In particular, creative personalities are more successful and well balanced than authoritarian personalities.

However the authoritarian just don't understand the creative and so think they are crazy. Or they think something implausible such as they went to the border of insanity and came back creative.

I think that authoritarian personalities, particularly when they act in a group, are a danger to creative personalities.
Do you have a link or a title or a reference (journal name, volume, date, page#) of these longitudinal studies?
 

The Outsider

New member
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
2,418
MBTI Type
intp
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx
Oh my god. I hope the "creative" people I know never come upon this.
 

Mole

Permabanned
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
20,284
Oh my god. I hope the "creative" people I know never come upon this.

Creative personalities already know this, but authoritarian personalities don't.

I hope the authoritarian personalities learn that they can't tell the difference between chaos and creativity.

And I hope the creative personalities realise they can't work with the authoritarian personalities and they should be left behind to clean up the chaotic.
 
Top