Creativity and mental illness.

In comparing genius to a pearl Lombroso sutmarised his beliefthat the cause of genius was a constitutional defect, a defect that commonly showed itselfas insanity in the genius or his family.' This "insanity" theory was supported by several later studies,24 but other studies supported an alternative theory (the "stud" theory) that genius represented the highest capacities ofthe race-a culminating point of evolution-and that insanity was no commoner in geniuses or their families than in other people.56 Reviewing the evidence in 1948, Brain concluded that though geniuses were probably not specially prone to insanity they were certainly more "nervous," and that when insanity occurred the commonest kind was "cyclothymia, the manic-depressive state."7 The modern approach Now if (as may reasonably be held8) the continuance of modern civilisation depends on a flow of original ideas then the nature and causes of genius and the prospect of fostering it are very important subjects of study. Growing awareness of this may account for an increasingly scientific approach to the problem during the past 40 years. In the modern approach "genius" and "insanity" have been replaced by the broader terms creativity (or simply high achievement) and mental illness. This has the important effect of widening discourse and so permitting the study ofcontemporary samples and their comparison with controls. It also avoids a difficulty that has only recently become clear: thefactsaboutthegeniutesof history are hard to establish