A Different Look into Creativity: Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia

Creativity was assessed in two adult male psychiatric patients with two separate mental disorders, one with bipolar disorder and one with schizophrenia. Both men were of the same education level, Caucasian, and young adults. The current study was of a paired case study where the two men had previously been assessed with symptom rating scales: the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) (Overall & Gorham, 1962) and Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) (Derogatis, 1992). These assessments showcased the mens\u27 different psychoses and their symptoms. They were then interviewed using the Yale Creativity Interview (Schuldberg, 1989) developed for this study. The interview assessed the mens\u27 attitudes and personal examples of creativity. When both men’s data were compared, the man with schizophrenia spectrum disorder showed more evidence of creativity than the man with bipolar disorder. With these results, future research may be able to provide more insight on the matter of creativity among individuals with psychoses. Implications of this study could lead to more people with mental disorders, who are creative, to have the confidence to showcase their ideas and talents; possibly, giving them more opportunities to have jobs and happiness