somatic stimuli. it has been found that the brains of creative people are more open to environmental stimuli due to smaller amounts of latent inhibition, an individual's unconscious capacity to ignore unimportant stimuli. while the absence of this ability is associated with psychosis, it has also been found to contribute to original thinking. emotions many people with bipolar disorder may feel powerful emotions during both depressive and manic phases, potentially aiding in creativity. because mania and hypomania may decrease social inhibition, performers who have bipolar disorder may become more daring and bold during an episode. other creators may exhibit characteristics often associated with mental illness that are not necessarily equivalent to a full-blown manic episode. posthumous diagnosis some creative people have been posthumously diagnosed as experiencing bipolar or unipolar disorder based on biographies, letters, correspondence, contemporaneous accounts, or other anecdotal material, most notably in kay redfield jamison's book touched with fire: manic-depressive illness and the artistic temperament. touched with fire presents the argument that bipolar disorder, and affective disorders more generally, may be found in a disproportionate number of people in creative professions such as actors, artists, comedians, musicians, authors, performers and poets. scholars have also speculated that the visual artist michelangelo lived with depression. in the book famous depressives: ten historical sketches, mj van lieburg argues that elements of depression are prominent in some of michelangelo's sculptures and poetry. van lieburg also draws additional support from michelangelo's letters to his father in which he states: "i lead a miserable existence and reck not of life nor honour - that is of this world; i live wearied by stupendous labours and beset by a thousand anxieties. and thus i lived for some fifteen years now and never an hour's happiness have i had." positive correlation several recent clinical studies have also suggested that there is a positive correlation between creativity and bipolar disorder, although the relationship between the two is unclear. temperament may be an intervening variable. ambition has also been identified as being linked to creative output in people across the bipolar spectrum. can music make you sick? measuring the price of musical ambition by sally anne gross and george musgrave suggests that high levels of self-reported anxiety and depression amongst musicians can be explained, at least in part, by the nature of musicians' working conditions. mental illness and divergent thinking in 2017, associate professor of psychiatry gail saltz stated that the increased production of divergent thoughts in people with mild-to-moderate mental illnesses leads to greater creative capacities. saltz argued that the "wavering attention and day-dreamy state" of adhd, for example, "is also a source of highly original thinking. ceos of companies such as ikea and jetblue have adhd. their creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, high energy levels, and disinhibited manner could all be a positive result of their " mania risk has also been credited with aiding in creative accomplishments because "when speed of thinking increases, word associations form more freely, as do flight of ideas, because the manic mind is less inclined to filtering details that, in a normal state, would be dismissed as irrelevant." brain imaging and genetic links brain imaging studies have consistently reported that low-latent inhibition is associated with originality, creative personalities, and high levels of creative achievement. there have also been genetic studies conducted to consider genetic links between creativity and psychopathology. several genes that have been flagged as linking to some forms of psychopathology have also been linked to creativity. these include polymorphisms of the drd2 and drd4 genes, the 5ht2a gene, and the nrg1 gene. correlation but not causation several studies suggest a consistent link between creativity and those with either mild forms of bipolar disorder or family histories of bipolar disorder, but not full-blown bipolar i disorder. these findings reiterate that creative individuals are more likely on the mild end of psychosis spectrums, but not repeatedly beyond that point. one study wrote that "only elevated levels of schizotypy and psychosis-proneness found in divergent thinkers or possessing some indicators of schizotypy promotes creative achievement but not full-blown schizophrenia". another article writes that "it is likely that psychopathology and creativity are closely related; sharing many traits and antecedents but outright psychopathology may be negatively associated with creativity". these correlations could be due, in part, to shared vulnerability factors between creativity and psychopathology, including neural hyper-connectivity, novelty salience, cognitive disinhibition, and emotional lability. there are also shared environmental factors that can simultaneously increase potential for creativity and vulnerability to psychopathology. these factors continue to drive further research, like the study anxiety and adverse life events in professional creative and early psychosis populations (crabtree et al.). creativity and mental well-being there is a popular indian cultural belief that 'deep pain enhances creativity and creative acts may actually help in healing the wounds'. the healing powers of creativity are seen frequently in everyday life, as artistic outlets are often encouraged as a way to improve well-being. creativity can have an incredible impact on mental health and well-being by not only helping people find meaning and significance, but providing an increased sense of purpose. notable individuals this is a list of individuals whose creative sensibilities have been linked to their mental health. john nash (1928–2015) was an american economist, noted for his contributions to game theory, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. after undergoing several different treatments and therapies over the course of several decades, nash effectively eschewed further psychiatric intervention and gradually adjusted to dealing with his symptoms without the usage of medications; he eventually returned to his field and earned a nobel prize in economics in 1994. joanne greenberg (born 1932) is an american author who wrote i never promised you a rose garden (1964), an autobiographical account of her teenage years in chestnut lodge working with frieda fromm-reichmann. at the time she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, although two psychiatrists who examined greenberg's self-description in the book in 1981 concluded that she did not have schizophrenia, but had extreme depression and somatization disorder. the narrative constantly puts difference between the protagonist's mental illness and her artistic ability. greenberg is adamant that her creative skills flourished in spite of, not because of, her condition: i wrote as a way of describing mental illness without the romanticisation that it underwent in the sixties and seventies when people were taking lsd to simulate what they thought was a liberating experience. during those days, people often confused creativity with insanity. there is no creativity in madness; madness is the opposite of creativity, although people may be creative in spite of being mentally ill. this statement from greenberg originally appeared on the page for rose garden at amazon.com and has been quoted in many places including asylum: a mid-century madhouse and its lessons about our mentally ill today, by enoch callaway, m.d. (praeger, 2007), p. 82. brian wilson (born 1942), founder of the american rock band the beach boys, has bipolar and schizoaffective disorder. in 2002, after undergoing treatment, he spoke of how medication affects his creativity, explaining: "i haven't been able to write anything for three years. i think i need the demons in order to write, but the demons have gone. it bothers me a lot. i've tried and tried, but i just can't seem to find a melody." daniel johnston (1961–2019) was an american singer-songwriter whose music was often attributed to his psychological issues. in a press release issued by his manager, it was requested that reporters refrain from describing johnston as a "genius" due to the musician's emotional instabilities. the guardian's david mcnamee argued that "it's almost taboo to say anything critical about johnston. this is incredibly patronising. for one thing, it makes any honest evaluation of his work impossible." terry a. davis (1969–2018) was an american computer programmer who singlehandedly created and designed an entire operating system, templeos, alongside full 2d and 3d graphics libraries, a programming language (holyc) and a compiler. although his remarks were often incomprehensible or abrasive, he was known to be exceptionally lucid if the topic of discussion was computers. he refused medication for his schizophrenia because he believed it limited his creativity. in 2017, the os was shown as a part of an outsider art exhibition in bourgogne, france. kanye west (born 1977) is an american record producer, rapper, singer, and fashion designer who has bipolar disorder. the creativity in his art and his outspoken views on different topics are sometimes attributed in part to him having bipolar disorder. west has said this on his bipolar disorder, "i can just tell you what i'm feeling at the time, and i feel a heightened connection with the universe when i'm ramping up. it is a health issue. this — it's like a sprained brain, like having a sprained ankle. and if someone has a sprained ankle, you're not going to push on him more. with us, once our brain gets to a point of spraining, people do everything to make it worse."