Study Says Neurotic Individuals Are Also More Prone to Creativity

A new study finally documents a link between neurotic individuals and increased creativity, possibly providing an answer to why most artists are difficult persons.

The study, done by a team of psychologists from King’s College in London and published in the Opinion journal, concludes that neurotic people are more prone to be creative because of the simple fact that they think too much. Even when they are under no stress circumstances, neurotic individuals generally create scenarios they might or might not believe or even create what if situation – which, even though rudimentary, makes the basis for long-standing creativity.

It’s mostly about the dark part of it all though – as neurotic individuals are more prone to shift reality in a bleaker way than it really is. Even though this tragic sense of output doesn’t do wonders for one’s mood, it actually helps in blooming his or hers creative side, especially due to its sense of generating believable alternate realities or of judging situations from a broader perspective.

The study itself doesn’t prove a direct, biological link between the two, but brings solid proof pointing towards the existence of causality between the two. For example, neurotic people are way more prone to be represented in creative jobs – from writers, sculptors or other kind of typical artists to more corporate creativity-based occupations such as public relations or any kind of publicity specialist. At the same time, they tend to avoid exact professions which require a great deal of attention – let’s say, air traffic controller.

But it’s not only about career choice – brain activity patterns are also similar between creative and neurotic people. Comparing neurotics to non-neurotic creative people, the study found that both groups will find it difficult not to be distracted by their own thoughts when given a specific task – this is because they both generate thoughts in a continuous manner.

The study’s authors also draw an interesting conclusion, when taking into account the fact that neurotics are coming under attack from adepts of positive thinking. With many methods of feeling better with oneself developing and being promoted in the near past, they might actually have an effect on neurotic individuals – and start making them feel less downtrodden. But, this will also work towards lowering their predisposition towards their genius parts unfortunately – the decision falls under each neurotic person’s responsibility to take.

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