Abstract:
This study examined the commonalities and the differences between creativity and the
schizophrenia spectrum. The variables measured as potential commonalities and differences were
creativity, schizotypy, cognitive inhibition, spatial ability, balancing skills, positive and negative
presence, absorption, mystical experiences, childhood abuse, and neuroticism. Three community groups
were recruited, consisting of 31 artists, 10 people with schizophrenia, and 31 comparisons matched for
gender and age with the artists. A larger student group consisting of 102 students was also recruited in
order to examine the correlations among the same variables within a larger, more normative, group.
The largest commonality between the artist and the schizophrenic groups, who represented the
extreme end of the schizophrenia spectrum, was the propensity to mystical experiences. The greatest
differences between the artist and the schizophrenic groups were that the artists were higher in creativity,
performed better on spatial abilities, had better balance, had more positive states of presence, and were
lower in neuroticism than the schizophrenic group. In the student group, creativity was correlated with
spatial ability, positive presence, absorption, and mystical experiences. In addition, creativity was
significantly related to two facets of schizotypy, unusual experiences and impulsive nonconformity. In
other words, students high in certain facets of schizotypy, who may share certain characteristics with
those who have schizophrenia, are higher in creativity, but people who are on the extreme end of the
schizophrenia spectrum, who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, are not.
The differences between the artist and schizophrenic groups on spatial ability, balance, sense of
presence, and neuroticism may help to determine whether mystical experiences help to integrate creative
work or destabilize and disorganize the sense of self. It may be that mystical experiences can be used
more positively by the creative individuals than people with schizophrenia, in that artists and people high
in creativity were higher in positive traits such as positive presence and lower on negative variables such
as neuroticism, and introvertive anhedonia.
