I am a musician, artist, and curator, and I feel that Bipolar DEFINITELY enhances creativity. Obviously especially during hypomania, but experiencing extreme moods like depression increases range of expression. I think the main benefit to the creative person that comes from being bipolar is the ability to make, and comfort with making, lose associative jumps, extremely fluid thought process that are often non linear and non causal. Normative folks think in this very utilitarian linear way, cannot transition between extreme big picture and radical minutia with ease, and are just like trying to get the job done. Bipolar people tend to create these thought environments where the purpose of the thoughts is the environment they produce themselves, not like thinking for some purpose per se, just thinking as a kind of psychic decorative act. It's a more poetic, more open and optimistic attitude about thought and creative discovery.

Also, being in pain all the time helps you be an artist. I am relatively successful, but I've endured decades of struggle as a professional artist, but I'm struggling any way. Being an artist, especially in America, is a radical struggle, and if, psychically, you have the potential for comfort and ease, in the pursuit of being an artist, that functions as a disadvantage, because why on EARTH would you go through with this if you could just sink into some job and be happy?

Much of the great art work of the world is the real estate of the mentally ill, it's one thing that we have a particular advantage in, and we should own that, we EARN IT!