MyGiftedLife.org

How about this one, then, from today's Metro:

www.metro.co.uk/news/826974-geniuses-are...ng-insane-says-study

Geniuses are 'bordering on being insane' says study

Similar brain chemistry has been identified in healthy, highly creative people and those with schizophrenia.

Both groups had lower concentrations of dopamine, which is responsible for passing information to a part of the brain called the thalamus, scientists say.

The thalamus filters information before it reaches the cortex, which is responsible for reasoning.

This may explain why both creative people and schizophrenics are able to make unusual or bizarre links between pieces of information.

‘The study proves that genius does in fact border on insanity,’ said associate Prof Fredrik Ullén at the Stockholm-based Karolinska Institute, which conducted the research.

The findings emerged after 13 healthy men and women took creativity, or ‘divergent’, tests.

The more solutions the participants found for a problem, the higher their creativity levels were ranked.

‘Highly creative people who did well on the divergent tests had a lower density of [dopamine] D2 receptors in the thalamus than less creative people,’ said Prof Ullén.

‘Schizophrenics are also known to have low D2 density in this part of the brain, suggesting a link between mental illness and creativity,’ he added.

Oh yeah, I've run up against that a lot in my googling about creativity and traits of creative people.

It seems to be based on actual observation of neurochemicals. It's only a value judgement if you let it be one.

Goodness knows I don't have a filter. And I do have a half-brother who was diagnosed as bipolar. He's had delusions that sound schizophrenic to me - he was once picked up by the police after driving up and down some highway in Tennessee for hours thinking a gray van was chasing him. And then there was the time he was visiting us and had an episode and tried to hide in my closet from whoever he thought was after him.

Mental illness is really a matter of degree. I propose thinking of it as a spectrum between functional and nonfunctional as opposed to the dichotomy of sane/insane.

There's some evidence that introverts, a majority of the gifted population, have and use less dopamine normally:


Introverts have reactions to two neurotransmitters. They have a low tolerance to dopamine, the thrill-seeking neurotransmitter. Essentially, introverts need way less of this than do extroverts, and too much dopamine makes them anxious and eventually drained. For introverts, outside stimulation which increases dopamine levels is much like being tickled: not so bad at first, but it can escalate and become very stressful and uncomfortable. Introverts prefer the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which produces a feeling of calm and wellbeing. This neurotransmitter is raised during calm, reflective activities like reading or drawing.

Introverts have a longer brain pathway from initial stimulus to the brain's reaction to the stimulus. Perhaps this is why introverts are "slower" in their talking, walking, thinking, and socializing. What's the rush? For further reference: The Introvert Advantage by Dr. Marti Olsen Laney (Workman Publishing, 2002.)

Read more at Suite101: Extrovert V. Introvert: Personalities Hardwired by Neurotransmitters in the Brain neurologicalillness.suite101.com/article...ersion#ixzz0oVotF1sP


My own personal theory is that the brain gets used to using the pathway it's more chemically comfortable with until it becomes a hardwired balance. Why it gets used to a particular pattern, of course, is a good question; but we know that people aren't absolute extraverts or introverts, we all use both pathways at times and we have both neurochemical channels, or we certainly would be crazy.

"Geniuses are 'bordering on being insane' says study" is...perhaps yes, and that's okay.

You know, if it weren't for Nikola Tesla's "schizophrenic" delusions/inventive genius, we'd all still be using Edison's DC current to light up our homes.

Faulty syllogism?

"If A = C, and B = C, then A = B" or something along those lines...?

If fish live underwater, and whales lives underwater, then whales must be fish, right?

(I assume we all know this to be false.)

[Or it could be like saying, "If introverts often present with depression, then depression must be an indicator of introversion."

Depression could be an indicator of any number of things--aside from the effects of social bias against introverts... ;) ]

They might as well announce that Geniuses Are Dangerous, And Should Be Burned At The Stake (or at the very least, Excommunicated.)

Pitchforks and torches, anyone?

It's also a case of where a condition of having low use of a neurochemical channel might be abnormal for one person, while another brain might run that way normally.

After all, if a wannabe mechanic were to diagnose an engine by its exhaust, he might assume a diesel was a gasoline engine and give it a tune-up. He might also then with equally well-meaning ignorance give it a fill-up of unleaded and wonder what went wrong when it breaks down.

And psychiatrists, without meaning any offence, by applying drugs to alter the function of a brain which they don't completely understand by virtue of using an input/output black box model on it, are wannabe mechanics.