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Growing up, 13-year-old Lauren Weinrich’s mood would change without warning. First she was giddy – then she’d fly into a rage.

“Afterwards she totally looked scared, confused, ‘I don’t understand what just happened,’” says her mom, Robin.

“I didn’t know if the different feelings were normal for everybody,” Lauren remembers. “But then when I looked at everybody else, they weren’t acting the way I was acting.”

Lauren has bipolar disorder – which causes her extreme mood swings. But according to a new study, it also means she’s more creative.

Research from Stanford University Medical Center shows children with bipolar disorder scored higher on a creativity test than other kids.

“The children with bipolar disorder had a 67 percent increase in creativity, measured by various scales, compared to the children who did not have bipolar disorders,” says Dr. J. Stephen McDaniel, psychiatrist and medical director of Skyland Trail – a facility which treats bipolar patients.

“For the first time we are beginning to look at creativity as something that might be in the human genome and is actually transmitted genetically along with that genetic susceptibility to bipolar disorder.”

For Lauren, being creative means writing, painting and drawing intricate portraits.

She manages her illness with medication and therapy.

But does that same treatment also diminish her creativity? Apparently not, according to Dr. McDaniel.

“You can be so depressed that you lose creativity,” he says, “you can be so manic that you lose creativity – or if you have it you are not able to organize and channel it.”

Before, Lauren would write a story, but she wouldn’t finish it. “Also, my paintings, you can tell where I’ve messed up because I’m mad when I’m pushing the brush really hard,” she says.

Lauren’s artwork has improved since she began treatment. And while she will always battle bipolar disorder, her mom is optimistic.

“I always felt like that Lauren was going to be the type of child, when she grows up, [who] was going to impact many people,” Robin says.

What We Need To Know

• Parents of bipolar children should make sure kids have access to various creative outlets, beginning at an early age. (Dr. J. Stephen McDaniel, M.D., Psychiatrist and Medical Director, Skyland Trail)




• Bipolar patients can benefit from expressive arts therapy as part of their treatment. Creative writing, journaling, painting, acting, drawing, or photography are good ways for patients to deal with their feelings. (Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation)




• ADHD can be an early warning sign of bipolar disorder in children with bipolar parents. (Dr. J. Stephen McDaniel, M.D., Psychiatrist and Medical Director, Skyland Trail)




• Children who are at risk for being bipolar, because their parents have the disorder, also scored higher on a creativity test than other kids, and need exposure to creative outlets. (Stanford University Medical Center)

Resources

• Stanford University Medical Center (Creativity in Familial Bipolar Disorder, Journal of Psychiatric Research)




• National Institute for Mental Health




• Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance

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