Schizophrenia and creativity: A meta-analytic review

The present study investigated the relationship between creativity and schizophrenia with a 3-level multilevel meta-analytic approach. Analyses with 200 effect sizes obtained from 42 studies found a mean effect size of r=-0.324, 95%CI [-0.42, -0.23]. Further analyses focused on moderators and indicated that the relationship between schizophrenia and creativity is moderated by type of creativity measure, the content of creativity measure, the severity of schizophrenia, and patient status. The negative mean effect size was stronger with semantic-category or verbal-letter fluency tasks than the divergent thinking or associational measures. Performance on verbal measures of creativity was significantly lower than the nonverbal measures. When effect sizes were compared at different levels of severity, a stronger and more negative mean effect size was obtained at chronic schizophrenia than acute and early onset levels. Studies that involved inpatients had a significantly higher (more negative) mean effect size than those involving outpatients. When these findings are considered along with previous meta-analyses on the link between creativity and psychoticism and schizotypy, creativity and psychopathology seem to have an inverted-U relationship. A mild expression of schizophrenia symptoms may support creativity but a full demonstration of the symptoms undermines it.