Neurobiology of creativity: is there any association with bipolar mood disorder?

Creativity can be defined as a production of action or idea both original and useful, and its effective implementation. Such features of brain functioning may have an evolutionary advantage, increasing chances of survival and achieving reproductive success. Creativity occurs already in some animals but to the greatest extent is present in contemporary humans. The number of genes implicitly associated with creativity is greater in Homo sapiens compared with Homo neandenthalesis, in which it exceeds the number occurring in chimpanzees. The brain structures most essential for creativity involve the frontal and temporal lobes, the default mode network and the cerebellum, and the main neurotransmitter system is the dopaminergic one. Psychological processes associated with creativity include unusual mode of thinking and increased motivation driven by mood. In the field of psychopathology, most data make a case for the association of creativity with bipolar mood disorder (BD). Among writers, artists and their families, there is an overrepresentation of BD and cyclothymic personality. In BD, unusual thinking is frequent, and enhanced creativity is usually associated with elevated mood. The studies of Nancy Andreasen, Kay Jamison, Terence Ketter, Tiffany Greenwood, and own investigation in this area are presented. The results of many analyses point to a shared vulnerability to creativity and BD. In many outstanding artists, including Polish ones, we observe the full clinical expression of the illness.