Many people carry common genetic mutations that could increase the risk of developing mental illness, like schizophrenia. Those who carry some set of those genes but don’t end up with a psychiatric disorder could just end up being more creative, according to a new study.
Dr. Kári Stefánsson, a neurologist and CEO of a biological research company called deCODE Genetics, conducted the study published in Nature Neuroscience this week. He told NPR that these genetic changes that put people at risk for mental illness actually persist in DNA because overall they provide benefits.
“They are found in most of us, and they’re common because they either confer or in the past conferred some reproductive advantage,” he says. The advantage of having a more creative mind, he suggests, might help explain why these genes persist, even as they increase the risk of developing debilitating disorders, such as schizophrenia.
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Stefánsson and his team looked at the genes of more than 80,000 Icelanders to see if writers, dancers, artists, actors or musicians had genetic markers that were associated with the additional risk of mental illness.
“And, indeed, the risk for schizophrenia is substantially higher in creative professions than in the average population in Iceland,” he says. If people are getting at least some of their creative impulse from these genes, Stefánsson says, then “the variance in the genome that leads to creativity also leads to schizophrenia.”
While this genetic variance seems to have a clear correlation with creativity and mental illness, others are hesitant to jump to major conclusions with this information.
“Any particular set of genes is only going to explain a very small part of variation in any psychological trait,” Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told NPR. He insists that what’s going on in a persons life and environment are equal contributors.
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Despite the other contributors, which Stefánsson acknowledges completely, he still believes these findings are substantial. “I’m convinced [these genes] are not a major contributor to the creativity in all of us,” he says. “But they exist … with fairly high frequency.”
Photo: Flickr user Cardoso Diogo
