The Myth of the Mad Genius

[@BeyondaThought]

Brilliant video Essay Annabelle. Can I suggest making Time Stamps, it makes it so much easier to consume the topic when there are chapter headings breaking down the information ahead. Along with other great reasons I can't clarify right now.

[@cherylho134]

LOVE IT BELLE! EXCITED FOR MORE!

[@sarahfitz9095]

YES 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 your end point is so friggin’ true

[@emilythefairy1]

Look up Kay red field Jamison MD and phd. Great research on mood disorders.

[@annabellemitchell192]

Hey Emily! Thanks for your comment - I read some of Kay's research in preparation for this video - some of her book 'an unquiet mind', which was awesome. But alas... I forgot to put it in hahaha. But thankyou so much for watching xx

[@mikaelwester]

Good video on an interesting subject. I’m somewhat knowledgeable in it. But not much. Ex family dr and CBT therapist, chronic depressed, ADHD , dyslexic , long time medications, and somewhat knowledgeable in science. Couldn’t have summoned it better myself. Maybe I would have come to a little different conclusion or included different facts. But not done it better. The fact that I watched it to the end without losing focus to often! My KZbin history is 99,8% of videos that i only watched 10% of. But I don’t know the base line value for KZbin users. Soo many psychiatric diseases are so crippling that untreated they will stop anyone from creating anything. Would we see a clearer connection if everyone was treated ? Is there a connection? All the media showing a connection. Affects us all. Confirmation bias does the rest? Let us say that there is no connection. But the culture tells everyone that there is. Growing up in that concept. Believing in it. A young person with a creative talent but mentally “normal” might chose not to follow the creative life path. But the same person, with mental problems. Might chose it. Because that choice fits the cultural norm. Making it a self fulfilling cultural idea

[@annabellemitchell192]

Hi Mikael, thankyou so much for your comment - it means a lot coming from a medical professional. I like your idea of a self fulfilling prophecy - that's an interesting take, and I agree, our attitudes about what currently is have such impact on our behavior. Thankyou again for watching. xx

[@gamblerofrats]

I think you bring up some good points, but I feel like there is a lack of clarity here - are we talking about creativity or "exceptional creativity/intellectual ability" (i.e., being a genius)? Simply based on face validity I would agree that the closer you get to schizophrenic symptoms, the more creative an individual becomes, up until you hit a threshold wherein the positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms weigh down the ability to convey said creativity. I think we need to look beyond the scope of just mood disorders though. I find it unlikely that someone with major depression is any more creative than a mentally healthy individual, so perhaps this could have skewed/balanced the results (How often do we see people with depression being referred to as "mad geniuses"? I would say this trope is more inclined towards the more "unhinged" or manic disorders.) For example, autism, particularly in women, can be similar to the "horizontal thinking" you spoke about in terms of brain lateralisation. Some women with ASD have the inverse of the general conception of [male] autism - wherein people think they're overly analytical or logical - and instead they connect many different topics together, similar to schizophrenia. Does this mean they’re also more likely to be creatively inclined? I think this poses a more philosophical question though - is creativity the embodiment of horizontal thinking, or is it a by-product of it? If we could, say, agree that creativity is _defined_ as having the ability to link topics together, you could claim that (some) mental illness is _directly_ linked to the “mad genius” trope. Perhaps this could be investigated by looking at split brain patients?

[@TheRuigeMax]

Loved the video. My thought is that art is expression. And when someone has the ability to express life in a different way you could say it makes them more creative.

[@whistlerguy2695]

IDK about this but ig there is a certain relationship between creativity and being morally broke. Anyways this video is dope i liked it found it informative and structured. But i would like to ask how you measure creativity? is their any parameter or test kind of?

[@jackklein3683]

Wow such a cool video!

[@annabellemitchell192]

You are so kind

[@ashishalexander5286]

There are some very interesting concepts and thoughts in there, but the structure seems a bit confusing. Can I suggest adding a sub-topic text and drawing an outline of the topics you would like to cover (would love to see the time stamps)? Overall very informational video.

[@annabellemitchell192]

Hi Ashis, thanks for watching! Definitely, that's good feedback, I'll take that into account. Thanks again xx

[@Preppyslaygirlysayslay]

I know people think they've all been through the worst. I've lost my entire family at 19 and none of my friends except 2 are alive. I am the least creative person. Maybe I haven't had the opportunity but it's done nothing but make me be nothing except line cook and I can't draw can't write.