[Music, composers and psychopathology: the psychiatrist's view]

A first reason for the psychiatrist to be interested in music, musicians and their artistic work, comes from the strong biographical and scientific evidence linking mood disorders and in particular, bipolar disorder, to artistic creativity. Moreover, a family association between psychopathology and creativity has been found in several studies. Important changes in mood, but also cognition, personality and behaviour can occur during all phases of manic-depressive illness and these changes have potentially important effects on creativity and productivity. Those changes are usually opposite in mania and depression. Many bipolar artists see emotional turmoil as essential to their creativity, which has therapeutical but also ethical consequences. A second area of interest is the impaired emotional recognition in schizophrenic patients, not only for visual material (faces or contextual scenes) but also for auditive material (voice or music) leading to impaired social interactions in this condition.