Can you’re thinking that of a comedian, actor, poet or author who suffered from mental illness? Maybe the actor Robin Williams or comedian Stephen Fry got here to your mind. Perhaps it was the author Virginia Woolf. All three have had well-documented struggles with bipolar disorder.
Mental illnesses have been related to creative pondering for a very long time. For instance, mathematician John Nash’s battle with schizophrenia was immortalised within the film A Beautiful Mind (2001).
Research supports this link, showing that folks with mental illnesses resembling schizophrenia usually tend to work in creative jobs. It also shows that creative groups, including stand-up comediansartists and scientists, are sometimes more prone to face challenges with their mental health.
But are all creative people created equal? Our recent study aimed to explore whether a novel creative group that had never been studied before – magicians – exhibited similar proclivities to some mental illnesses resembling schizophrenia. We also checked out whether or not they were more prone to have a neurodivergent difference, resembling autism.
Many researchers imagine that each mental illness and neurodivergence can enhance creative pondering. Scientist Temple Grandin is a famous example of this. She credits her experience of being on the autism spectrum for the event of a hug machine that helps handle livestock in a more humane way, and was later adopted by other autistic people.
Mental health conditions may range from anxiety or depression to personality disorders or psychosis. When someone experiences psychosis, it’s measured on a continuumwith only those experiencing certain patterns and episodes being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
People not clinically diagnosed with schizophrenia, for instance, resembling those with fewer episodes or less intense symptoms of psychosis, sometimes experience mind wandering and disorganised pondering. This may be difficult for focus but could also be useful for fostering creativity.
Magicians are unique in that they each create their very own shows and perform them. In this sense, they’re much like comedians. Most other creative groups either create or perform but not each. However, unlike comedians, there may be far more at stake in a magic performance. If a comedian’s joke falls flat, it might be unpleasant, but it surely’s unlikely to break your entire show.
With a couple of good jokes that make the audience laugh, the comedian can get back on the right track. In contrast, one failed magic trick may be disastrous and opportunities to get better through the act may be few and much between.
Magicians, due to this fact, must be extremely precise of their performance and possess highly technical skills, all while entertaining the audience concurrently. This unique work environment and skill set make them an intriguing creative group to review. We carried out our own research with the help of an expert magician.
Magical pondering
Our study included 195 magicians, primarily from the UK and the US, with a mean of 35 years of experience in performing magic. This included close-up magicians, mentalists, card experts and large-stage magicians. The magicians accomplished questionnaires assessing their tendencies toward autistic and psychotic traits. These were then in comparison with a sample of non-magicians with an analogous age range and and gender distribution, in addition to other creative groups resembling comedians, poets, actors and musicians.
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The magicians didn’t exhibit any predisposition for autistic traits, scoring similarly to the final population. However, magicians scored lower on nearly every psychotic symptom in comparison with the final sample and other creative groups.
In particular, these magicians demonstrated a really high ability to pay attention, lower levels of social anxiety and fewer instances of bizarre experiences, distorted thoughts and hallucinations. All these traits are highly advantageous for the work of magicians, as they permit them to focus and concentrate to their craft without distractions.
The magicians we studied also didn’t display any tendency for anti-social behaviour and had good self-control. While these traits are helpful for a lot of creative groups, resembling artists and comedians, they’re less critical for a magic performance. Magic performances are social events, often involving the audience and sometimes using assistants. So being friendly and affable is a key ingredient for a successful show.
In this regard, magicians are more much like scientists who also rating low on psychotic symptoms. Both require high levels of organisation and perseverance of their work. Moreover, just as scientists often explore different solutions to the identical problem, magicians can perform the identical magic trick in multiple ways.
Magicians vary in the extent of creativity of their performances. While some magicians may be edgy and modern (just watch David Copperfield’s famous flying illusion below), many magicians can construct successful careers by performing familiar tricks, sometimes with their very own tweaks, without the necessity to create recent tricks.
Unlike other creative groups who’ve more flexibility of their work and will improvise during their performances, magic shows require discipline and must be repeated the exact same way for the tricks to work.
The magician’s oath not to disclose the secrets behind the tricks allows them to perform the identical tricks repeatedly without the audience losing interest and likewise preserves the mystery of the act.
So unlike with other creative endeavours, mental illness and developmental differences could also be counterproductive to magician’s work. It is feasible that aspiring magicians with higher levels of psychotic and autistic traits find it very difficult to achieve this occupation.
Ultimately, our study illustrates that not all creative individuals are created equal, and the association between creativity and psychopathology is more complex than previously thought.
