MedWire News: Bipolar disorder patients who are experiencing an episode of mania, or a mixed episode, score significantly higher on measures of creativity than those who are experiencing a depressive episode, research shows.
The team also found that executive function among bipolar disorder patients only influences creativity levels in those who are experiencing mania.
Marcio Gerhardt Soeiro-de-Souza (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) and colleagues explain that previous studies have indicated increased levels of creativity among bipolar disorder patients compared with mentally healthy individuals.
However, they add that "controlled studies on this theme to date have involved only medicated euthymic bipolar disorder patients while no studies have investigated the differences in creativity across manic, depressive, and mixed states."
To address this, and to investigate whether executive function influences creativity in such patients, the researchers studied 67 individuals with bipolar I disorder who were aged between 18 and 35 years. Of these, 20 were in a manic, 21 in a mixed, and 26 in a depressive episode at the time of the study.
All of the participants were assessed for creativity using the Barrow Welsh Art Scale (BWAS), with higher scores indicating greater levels of creativity. They were also assessed for executive function and IQ using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), respectively.
The researchers found that patients experiencing manic and mixed episodes scored significantly higher on the BWAS than those in a depressive episode, at 27.25 and 26.80 versus 16.76, respectively.
Increased scores on the WCST - indicating better cognitive function - were significantly associated with increased BWAS scores in patients with mania, but not in those with mixed episodes or depression.
IQ did not influence creativity in any of the three patient groups, the team notes.
"In agreement with clinical observations, mania was the mood state with the highest creativity score," the researchers conclude, in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
They add: "We propose that creativity in bipolar disorder episodes might be positively influenced by dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex, but may also be dependent on executive function.
"Future studies should attempt to replicate our findings and clarify the connection between dopamine, mania, and creativity in bipolar disorder."
MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Limited. © Springer Healthcare Ltd; 2011
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