Mania Symptom Endorsement and Creativity

Bipolar disorder will affect an estimated 4.4% of adults in the U.S (Bipolar Disorder, 2017). This study addresses the hypothesis that individuals endorsing mania symptoms also tend to show increased creativity. There has been some empirical support linking mania and creativity, as well as anecdotal evidence of highly creative individuals posthumously being diagnosed with some form of bipolar disorder. To our knowledge, however, no prior studies have sought to link specific symptoms of mania with creativity. Participants in this study completed two separate creativity tasks, measuring convergent and divergent thinking, respectively; the Remote Associates Test (RAT) and the Alternate Uses Test (AUT). Two questionnaires followed: The Behavioral Inhibition/Activation Scale (BIS/BAS; Carver & White, 1994) with subscales for Drive, Fun Seeking and Reward Responsiveness and the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS; Stanton, McArtor & Watson, 2017) with subscales for an individual’s level of Modesty, Charisma, Activation, Intellectual Confidence and Lability. Multiple regression analyses revealed that scores on Activation, Intellectual Confidence, and Modesty significantly predicted creative test scores. Future studies may seek to replicate the study with a different community or use different measures of creativity.