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Verbal creativity, depression and alcoholism. An investigation of one hundred American and British writers.

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Title: Verbal creativity, depression and alcoholism. An investigation of one hundred American and British writers.
Authors: Post, Felix, Post, F (AUTHOR)
Source: British Journal of Psychiatry. May96, Vol. 168, p545-555. 11p.
Subjects: Mental depression, Alcoholism, Authors, Creative ability, Affective disorders, Diagnosis of alcoholism, Psychology of alcoholism, Diagnosis of mental depression, Personality disorder diagnosis, Suicide & psychology, Authorship, Drama, Imagination, Personality disorders, Pathological psychology, Social adjustment, Suicide, Writing, Ethnology research, Poetry (Literary form), Psychological factors
Geographic Terms: United States
Abstract: Background: An earlier study of 291 world famous men had shown that only visual artists and creative writers were characterised, in comparison with the general population, by a much higher prevalence of pathological personality traits and alcoholism. Depressive disorders, but not any other psychiatric conditions, had afflicted writers almost twice as often as men with other high creative achievements. The present investigation was undertaken to confirm these findings in a larger and more comprehensive series of writers, and to discover causal factors for confirmed high prevalences of affective conditions and alcoholism in writers.Method: Data were collected from post-mortem biographies and, where applicable, translated into DSM diagnoses. The frequencies of various abnormalities and deviations were compared between poets, prose fiction writers, and playwrights.Results: A high prevalence in writers of affective conditions and of alcoholism was confirmed. That of bipolar affective psychoses exceeded population norms in poets, who in spite of this had a lower prevalence of all kinds of affective disorders, of alcoholism, of personality deviations, and related to this, of psychosexual and marital problems, than prose fiction and play writers.Conclusions: A hypothesis is developed, which links the greater frequency of affective illnesses and alcoholism in playwrights and prose writers, in comparison with poets, to differences in the nature and intensity of their emotional imagination. This hypothesis could be tested by clinical psychologists collaborating with experts in literature on random samples of different kinds of writers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of British Journal of Psychiatry is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Verbal creativity, depression and alcoholism. An investigation of one hundred American and British writers.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Post%2C+Felix%22">Post, Felix</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Post%2C+F%22">Post, F</searchLink> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mental+depression%22">Mental depression</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Alcoholism%22">Alcoholism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Authors%22">Authors</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Creative+ability%22">Creative ability</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Affective+disorders%22">Affective disorders</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Diagnosis+of+alcoholism%22">Diagnosis of alcoholism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychology+of+alcoholism%22">Psychology of alcoholism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Diagnosis+of+mental+depression%22">Diagnosis of mental depression</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Personality+disorder+diagnosis%22">Personality disorder diagnosis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Suicide+%26+psychology%22">Suicide & psychology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Authorship%22">Authorship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Drama%22">Drama</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Imagination%22">Imagination</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Personality+disorders%22">Personality disorders</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pathological+psychology%22">Pathological psychology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+adjustment%22">Social adjustment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Suicide%22">Suicide</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Writing%22">Writing</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ethnology+research%22">Ethnology research</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Poetry+%28Literary+form%29%22">Poetry (Literary form)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychological+factors%22">Psychological factors</searchLink>
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  Data: <bold>Background: </bold>An earlier study of 291 world famous men had shown that only visual artists and creative writers were characterised, in comparison with the general population, by a much higher prevalence of pathological personality traits and alcoholism. Depressive disorders, but not any other psychiatric conditions, had afflicted writers almost twice as often as men with other high creative achievements. The present investigation was undertaken to confirm these findings in a larger and more comprehensive series of writers, and to discover causal factors for confirmed high prevalences of affective conditions and alcoholism in writers.<bold>Method: </bold>Data were collected from post-mortem biographies and, where applicable, translated into DSM diagnoses. The frequencies of various abnormalities and deviations were compared between poets, prose fiction writers, and playwrights.<bold>Results: </bold>A high prevalence in writers of affective conditions and of alcoholism was confirmed. That of bipolar affective psychoses exceeded population norms in poets, who in spite of this had a lower prevalence of all kinds of affective disorders, of alcoholism, of personality deviations, and related to this, of psychosexual and marital problems, than prose fiction and play writers.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>A hypothesis is developed, which links the greater frequency of affective illnesses and alcoholism in playwrights and prose writers, in comparison with poets, to differences in the nature and intensity of their emotional imagination. This hypothesis could be tested by clinical psychologists collaborating with experts in literature on random samples of different kinds of writers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of British Journal of Psychiatry is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=pbh&AN=25022377
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1192/bjp.168.5.545
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 11
        StartPage: 545
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Mental depression
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Alcoholism
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Authors
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Creative ability
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Affective disorders
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Diagnosis of alcoholism
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychology of alcoholism
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Diagnosis of mental depression
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Personality disorder diagnosis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Suicide & psychology
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Authorship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Drama
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Imagination
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Personality disorders
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Pathological psychology
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social adjustment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Suicide
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Writing
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Ethnology research
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Poetry (Literary form)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychological factors
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: United States
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Verbal creativity, depression and alcoholism. An investigation of one hundred American and British writers.
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          Name:
            NameFull: Post, Felix
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            NameFull: Post, F
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          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 05
              Text: May96
              Type: published
              Y: 1996
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              Value: 00071250
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            – Type: volume
              Value: 168
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            – TitleFull: British Journal of Psychiatry
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