Journal article
The creative writer: Psychiatric symptoms and family history
Comprehensive psychiatry, Vol.15(2), pp.123-131
1974
DOI: 10.1016/0010-440X(74)90028-5
PMID: 4822820
Abstract
A group of 15 successful creative writers was found to differ significantly from a group of 15 noncreative controls when both were examined for psychiatric symptoms and family history using a structured interview and specifically defined diagnostic criteria. Seventy-three percent of the writers suffered from some form of psychiatric disorder, as compared with 20% of the controls. The most common illness was affective disorder, which occurred in 67% of the writers and 13% of the controls. The two groups also differed significantly in family history. The primary relatives of writers had a 21.4% prevalence for any type of psychiatric illness, as compared with 4.4% among the relatives of controls. Morbid risk for depression was 19% among the primary relatives of writers and 2% for primary relatives of controls. In addition to an increased risk for psychiatric illness, relatives of writers also had a higher incidence of creativity; 23% of the primary relatives of writers were creative, while only 7% of the primary relatives of controls were similarly creative. These data suggest a familial association between creativity and affective disorder.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The creative writer: Psychiatric symptoms and family history
- Creators
- N.J.C AndreasenArthur Canter
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Comprehensive psychiatry, Vol.15(2), pp.123-131
- DOI
- 10.1016/0010-440X(74)90028-5
- PMID
- 4822820
- NLM abbreviation
- Compr Psychiatry
- ISSN
- 0010-440X
- eISSN
- 1532-8384
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 1974
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984003946402771
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