The Mad-Genius Trope

The “mad genius” trope is one that has been quite popularized by our modern world through its use in film, media, literature and also through the sudden obsession that young people will develop with figures like Sylvia Plath, Van Gogh, and Franz Kafka. With this culture of finding comfort in the works of people who seem to not have been content with their lives and suffer from various mental illnesses, one may begin to question the link between these people’s creativity and their mental illnesses. Is it because of their mental disorders that they were able to produce such innovative work? Was it their work or obsession with perfection that drove them to mental illness or the other way around? Is it necessary for a person to suffer in one way or another to produce astounding work?

Johns Hopkins University psychiatry professor Kay Redfield Jamison has stated that the reason why the mad genius trope has endured is “possibly because there’s a real element of truth in it." UCLA’s Knudsen, founder of the Creative Minds Project said, “I think there is a bidirectional relationship, where our emotional experience can shape our creative thinking and our creative thinking can also shape our emotional experience.” Furthermore, there is also research that supports the connection between madness and genius. In 1987, the American neuroscientist, Nancy Andreasen, conducted interviews at the University of Iowa and found that there was an increased incidence of bipolar disorder among creative writers and their family members. This also included Kurt Vonnegut, a renowned science-fiction writer.

However, this so-called “link” is also one that is quite controversial because a lot of the research that can be found on this topic is quite contradicting. For instance, some research journals state that “Prevalence of psychiatric morbidity is not higher in creative people (musicians and writers) compared to non-creative people.” Moreover, cognitive psychologists stated in an article, “While neuroticism has been associated with a host of negative outcomes (including imposter syndrome, stress, anxiety, impulsivity, depression, and impaired physical health) and even some positive outcomes (such as threat detection and increased vigilance), creative thinking doesn’t appear to be one of its correlates.

Another interesting question that arises is the effect that a mental illness may have on a person who is already quite creative. For instance, the English painter Louis Wain has been popularized once again, this time on social media. People have begun to spread information about his artwork stating that his paintings of cats became more and more abstract as his schizophrenia worsened. However, that is a false assumption. Colin Gale, director of the Bethlem Museum of the Mind, said, “I suppose people might think 'mental distress, disorder - gosh the artworks must all be very dark', or else they might think 'creativity and madness, isn't that linked, isn't that what drives art? Louis Wain is a great example of saying all that is just nonsense. Yes, he was unwell in later life and in care, but actually, painting was just part and parcel of who he was and what he did.”

Creative expression has also been linked with mental illness in the sense of it being used as a form of escapism or as a way to cope. A great example of this is Virginia Woolf, a greatly impactful writer who suffered greatly in her life and committed suicide in 1941, with two attempts before that. In her autobiographical work, she talks about her use of creation to escape from illness. For her, creative expression was a form of therapy in a sense.

Therefore, it can be concluded that we may be asking the wrong question. Creativity is something that is quite difficult to “measure” or even understand because it is quite arguably subjective. The link between madness and genius may be that creative freedom and the ability to create is an effective coping mechanism for many troubled people. It is an outlet for one’s emotions and thoughts. Those who rely on it more are able to understand themselves and the world through a more unique perspective which is what leads to genius work.

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Khadija Khan is an eighteen-year-old A levels student living in Peshawar, Pakistan. She loves reading classic literature, watching films, listening to music, and scrolling through Pinterest.