If You Think You're a Genius, You're Crazy - Issue 46: Balance - Nautilus

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Normal and abnormal

Many geniuses walk the line between the normal and the abnormal. The many impulses and ideas they perceive are a fountain of creativity. However, rational thought does impose a limit on a person's concept of his relation to the world.

Creative genius and madness

There are many so-called mad geniuses in history. Suicide victims include Vincent Van Gogh or Ernest Hemingway. Creative geniuses who have succumbed to alcoholism or other addictions are legion. This leads many to suppose that creativity and psychopathology are related.

Cognitive disinhibition

The creative genius tends to pay attention to things that normally should be ignored or filtered out.

People with schizophrenia are bombarded with hallucinations and delusions that should also be filtered out. However, creative genius differs from them in that the genius can separate bizarre fantasies from realistic possibilities.