I have posted in the bipolar forum before about madness and genius, but I want to back down a little and take a look at bipolar and creativity: BBC - Future - Does mental illness enhance creativity?. Here we have some studies and some myths, about the relationship between bipolar disorder and creativity. The upshot: some studies suggest that creative people experience more bipolar illness than the general population, while other studies show no much relationship. Bipolar doesn't seem to "enhance" creativity for most people, either. The idea that bipolar people are somehow more creative than everyone else appears to be a myth that is probably spread by bipolar people to romanticize a painful and potentially life-threatening illness and pretend there is a silver lining on a very dark cloud of mental illness.

How many people in the creative professions do we have in this forum? Are you a fine artist, a creative writer, etc? Even expanding beyond the creative professions into everyday creative pursuits, like knitting, building toothpick fortresses, and so on; how many bipolar people on these forums do such activities? Do you think bipolar makes you more creative, or does the illness rob you of motivation and ability? I want to hear about your experiences.