[earthrider93]

I read a study that found that people with bipolar have a higher iq, on average, than people without bipolar. They said some of the genes that cause a higher iq and more creativity are also linked with bipolar and schizophrenia. I wonder why this is? I know I did very well in high school before bipolar. And even if someone doesn't do well, they may still have a higher iq than they know. The study also said people with a low iq have around 3% of people with lower iq have serious mental illness and personality disorders, while 33% of people with iqs over 160 have a serious mental illness or personality disorder. I would think the opposite would be true. hmm....I guess we are all just geniuses.

Well, there is John Nash! Schizophrenic but brilliant mind. And Carrie Fisher was a smart cookie, too, in my opinion.

I will say this from personal experience, though:
While I do not claim to be like OMG I ARE SUPAR INTELLYGENT, I know that I did come across in school as being less academically capable than the average student. Like, I knew what I wanted to say and I knew what I wanted to do; I just couldn't express my thoughts and feelings. As such, I was placed in academic probation, given academic assistance, etc etc.

So I guess that's the other side of the coin... We've got the intelligence, but how well can we utilize it at times? So imo, that's why looks are deceiving with people who have BP, SZA, and SZ

[liveforsummer]

Hey I'm just gonna roll with that one and consider myself brilliant! (I have been told at times that I think I know all the answers )

[Nammu]

I've been told I'm very intelligent but I did ok in school, was on the honor roll a few times but it depended more on my interest in the class than my abilities ...however being the only deaf person in a hearing school with no real accommodations ( this was befor the ADA laws) I did pretty damn well.

[UpDownAround]

I think there is a correlation. I came through school in the 60s and 70s, where they gave us standardized tests almost every year and I take one every now and then out of curiosity. I score in the low 140s very consistently. Not a brag; I work in in software development where that number is "middlin'". I have known several people I am sure are over 150 and only a couple seemed level headed (both women; a different correlation?). Good programmers are known for their quirks; I do not disappoint...

I agree with the creativity part.

I have always said (and continue to say), that having bipolar has made me very creative.

as for IQ, I don't know.

I failed school which naturally isn't a great start, but then I guess i'm quite inteligent in certain subjects.

I never took an oficial IQ test. never really found a good one

[Unrigged64072835]

I took one for my last psych eval for my LTD. I think it was around 130. Don't know what I'd score now since I've been on various meds for the past five years. I do agree with the creative part, though meds have blunted that down a bit too.

[Guiness187055]

I've always been told I was to smart for my own good. Guess they were right.

[porcelainboy]

I had my IQ tested when I was in the hospital once for some reason, and I got higher scores than I was expecting. I didn't know what they were testing at the time, but after I got out and found out I felt like I was being put on the spot because at the time I was hallucinating, and I was on a high dose of Topamax at the time so I struggled with my memory.
They scored my test in ranges.
My total average was anywhere between 148-153. My lowest score was in the working memory section, which was in the 135-140 range. My highest scores were equal in the perceptual tests and processing speed tests, which were in the 155-160 range. The verbal comprehension tests were in the 145-150 range, which I was especially surprised about because I have profound hearing loss that makes understanding people VERY difficult and I had to ask for the woman to repeat each question multiple times as she spoke very quietly. I think they took this into consideration.

As far as school goes, I've done pretty good my entire school career thus far. But as others have said, it depends on my interest in the subject. If I'm completely uninterested, then I likely won't have as good a grade in that class as I would if I was truly interested.

Creativity is a strong suit for me, but I hate being told how to create something. While I enjoyed art and music classes in school because I got to make things, I also hated them because I was told exactly what I was supposed to do rather than being allowed to actually create. My favorite classes in school were the ones that involved creative writing, because my teachers usually left me to my own devices after giving me a basic prompt. If I was given instructions for including certain aspects of literature in my writing though, I'd get upset. I'd always manage to be able to do it, so that wasn't a worry of mine but as I said, I hated being told how to make things.

I'm still confused as to why exactly they tested my IQ, because my parents didn't order the test or anything. Maybe since all expenses were being covered by the hospital itself, the doctor wanted to take advantage of it? They thought I was schizoaffective at the time, so maybe they wanted statistics. I don't know.

[Slightlydelusional]

Im ultra creative when in manias, but can't complete projects or underestimate the resources needed for success.

As for IQ, Im probably just at average or a tad below. I have sort of learning disability that was never identified, Im a very slow learning at first, but once I have a little time I can catch on. I have a masters and professional success, but the BP has held me back for sure.

[Moose72]

My IQ is always 130 something. I always think I'm smarter than this.

[UpDownAround]

I am a good test taker and I think that helps a lot with my score. I think there is a component of "ability to take IQ tests" in there that isn't raw intelligence. What makes me a good test taker is realizing that there is no reason to continue thinking about or revisit an answer and moving on and only revisiting ones where more thought might get me to an answer I am more confident in.

[JanusunaJ]

I too have heard about the correlation between intelligence and bipolar disorder. I've also heard that the presence of both bipolar disorder and high intelligence isn't as prevalent as it's made out to be.

From my experience, the people that I've personally met and the people that I've read about seem to me to have a high level of intelligence more frequently than not.

I've had people, teachers or therapists/psychiatrists/physicians or friends, comment that I'm particularly intelligent. I don't really know why they think that. Maybe it's because of the way I speak or the questions I ask or the ideas I convey. When I was a kid my therapist had me take the Stanford-Binet test, however when he got the results he was surprised I didn't get a higher score, particularly in the quantitative(?) section. I only got above average. Another experience with a medical professional occurred in my 20s; I was admitted to a hospital because of a drug induced severely manic episode, possibly with some form of psychosis. I have no idea what happened while I was at the hospital. I can only recount conversation details between my friends and the medical staff that my friends told me about. The doctors were supposedly commenting on me being highly intelligent and verifying that observation with my friends. I have no idea how they could possibly think I'm highly intelligent. Especially considering my psychological state of being at that time!

I only doubt the conclusion of my intelligence because I do idiot things quite frequently haha! I was also in "special" classes in kindergarten and first grade. However, I did graduate with honors from high school, but I think that's because there was literally only one class that I took that was challenging. AP Chemistry. I definitely struggled academically at university. Sometimes I did well and sometimes I did poorly. My performance seemed to be random.

I wish I could include myself in the population of being highly intelligent while having bipolar disorder! That'd be the only benefit that I can see to having bipolar disorder as it seems to suck big time for the most part.

[Standup2me]

I too have been told that I am too smart for my own good
But I was a teen runaway, who made it through my undergrad on grades (scholarships and award $$$), who was on the dean's list while holding down two part time jobs.
But I had no choice. It was the only way to get a degree
Smart??? Motivated??? I don't know, but I am glad that it is in the past

[Standup2me]

I hope that I did not come across as bragging, it's not meant that way.

[scatterbrained04]

I have no idea what my IQ is, but I did well in school and took a lot of honors and AP courses. I think I'm pretty smart, but I don't always verbalize it well. Definitely more creative in hypomania, but I tend to hang out in depression, and that kills my creativity.

I remembered reading that people with higher IQs are more prone to mental illness but this article says there may be a link between creativity (not IQ) and bipolar/ schizophrenia but because it is hard to measure creativity--it is difficult to quantify perfectly.....
What Neuroscience Has To Say About The 'Tortured Genius' | HuffPost

[Icare dixit]

Is there someone with schizo-* with a high IQ?

Mine is very low.

Maybe for us (schizo-*) it's off the scale, but more likely others give us the benefit of the doubt because they don't know what we're on about, much of the time.

I don't see how intelligence is a useful concept, but it might be. Insofar as it is about using our intuition, we are exceptionally intelligent. As it's probably also about rationality, most of us will be very good at it. That depends on how self-confident we are and how much delusions we've had to create and make sense of.

We're probably pretty stupid when depressed, right?

[Crook32]

Slightly off topic but interesting.
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/25-...ntal-illnesses

[UpDownAround]

Originally Posted by Standup2me

I hope that I did not come across as bragging, it's not meant that way.

Hello - we're all bipolar, too and often convinced of our own brilliance. But I really am.

[piano97]

My old therapist used to call bipolar 'the disease of genius".

[rwwff]

Original test by a psychologist as a young kid; I was told the number 148. (I guess that was the overall average). I've consistently tested and placed competitively with that rating since that time. Its useful, in that its relevant to the job I do, but otherwise, kinda meh. It doesn't make me a better or worse person, its just a number.

Funny thing is why I was tested, in that I was scoring great in math&science classes, and terrible in spelling, grammar, etc. Test revealed no impairment, other than, "I hate language arts." Busted. I never learned to like those classes, but I did learn to at least do enough to make a C.

I do think IQ could make you more vulnerable to mental illness, but it also grants some resilience to the cognitive impacts of the MI.

Creatively... I dunno, I have poor fine motor control, but I think I would have loved sculpting, if the hands were capable, as I have exceptional 3d mental imaging; Writing, just no. Music I'm mediocre at, I can sing well enough to get paid, but nothing exceptional; and only poor instrumental talent.

[lilypup]

I don't feel super intelligent, but I am a member of MENSA. I was able to join because of my score on the GRE.
I always did well in high school and college, but now I feel pretty lame. I never have much to contribute to the conversation. I don't do real well with trivia.
My husband doesn't qualify for MENSA, but he is very well read and knows a little about some things and a lot about others. He is always the life of the party and always knows what he is talking about. I feel like a lump compared to him.
I sometimes wonder about the meds...do they dull me?
I always feel like I am bragging if I mention MENSA, but I'm not trying to. Just giving an example of a high IQ and a serious mental illness. And a high IQ that is pretty wasted by this disease.

I read about the IQ link years ago and brought it up on a forum I belonged to. You would have thought I threatened to murder everyone by how people reacted to the correlation. Most denied the link....even people with BP who were intelligent got their feathers ruffled and said "my intelligence has nothing to do with BP". How they could be so certain about such a thing boggled my mind. I tested out of high school at age 12. I was always a straight A student and school came easy to me. I don't have an advanced degree and have learned most of what I know from experience. I was given an IQ test about 17 years ago but they didn't give me my score, just treated me like I was special and said I only missed one question. Last time I was hospitalized I was told I'm very smart and a nurse told me that people with BP are often highly intelligent. Sometimes I feel stupid and sometimes I feel smart. I've always very athletic and creative also. I don't know if my BP has anything to do with it but with all the nasty stuff BP does to me, thinking it might have added a few IQ points feels good sometimes. I've had people jump down my throats for saying as much but oh well I guess.....none of us ran the studies or have enough evidence to state anything unequivocally.

[Icare dixit]

Originally Posted by ElsaMars

I read about the IQ link years ago and brought it up on a forum I belonged to. You would have thought I threatened to murder everyone by how people reacted to the correlation. Most denied the link....even people with BP who were intelligent got their feathers ruffled and said "my intelligence has nothing to do with BP". How they could be so certain about such a thing boggled my mind. I tested out of high school at age 12. I was always a straight A student and school came easy to me. I don't have an advanced degree and have learned most of what I know from experience. I was given an IQ test about 17 years ago but they didn't give me my score, just treated me like I was special and said I only missed one question. Last time I was hospitalized I was told I'm very smart and a nurse told me that people with BP are often highly intelligent. Sometimes I feel stupid and sometimes I feel smart. I've always very athletic and creative also. I don't know if my BP has anything to do with it but with all the nasty stuff BP does to me, thinking it might have added a few IQ points feels good sometimes. I've had people jump down my throats for saying as much but oh well I guess.....none of us ran the studies or have enough evidence to state anything unequivocally.

Don't you know that everyone with BP is different!? Would you say people are all or generally more intelligent or less intelligent if they had diabetes or cancer?