March 2012
23 posts
“It’s tough to associate creativity with mental illness because obviously if you’re very ill, it gets in the way. … But one of the theories now is that the terrible swings of the mental illness – of bipolar depression – you get these manic highs, these euphorias, where the ideas just pour out of you. And you need to write them down. That’s followed by this dismal low period when maybe you’re a better editor. Maybe it’s easier for you to focus and refine those epiphanies into a perfect form. … The thinking is maybe the correlation exists because the swings of mental illness echo the natural swings of the creative process.”
—
Jonah Lehrer, on the link between depression and creativity. [complete interview here] (via nprfreshair)
Ok, by “one of the theories now” I assume he means the one published back in 2006. NYC Psychopharmacologist, Ronald Fieve, MD specializes in depressive disorders, namely bipolar - and wrote all about enhancing the lows and highs in Bipolar II. Since the 70’s, many of his patients have been creative types: writers, directors, actors, fashion designers…etc.
“We open our eyes and we think we’re seeing the whole world out there. But what has become clear—and really just in the last few centuries—is that when you look at the electro-magnetic spectrum we are seeing less than 1/10 Billionth of the information that’s riding on there. So we call that visible light. But everything else passing through our bodies is completely invisible to us.”
—Neuroscientist and author David Eagleman, in recent interview with Lifehacker. (via thelavinagency)
"Paved with Good Intentions: Sentencing Alternatives from Neuroscience and the Policy of Problem-Solving Courts" →
papers.ssrn.com
Abstract:
Advances in basic and clinical neuroscience will soon present novel options for prediction, treatment, and prevention of antisocial behavior, particularly drug addiction. These hard-won advances have significant potential to improve public health and safety and increase efficiency in delivery of treatment and rehabilitation. Such therapies will undoubtedly find a large portion of their target population in the criminal justice system as long as drug possession remains criminalized.Improvements, however, are not without risks. The risks stem not only from the safety and side effect profile of such treatments, but also their insertion into a specialized criminal justice and sentencing system of “problem-solving courts” that may be overburdened, overpoliticized, undertheorized, and lacking sufficient checks and balances on institutional competency. While offering substantial therapeutic benefits, such developments might also short-circuit a critical policy discussion about the nature of drug use and its criminalization.
- Emily R. Murphy, Standford Law School [via]
