The highest performing students have a greater risk of developing bipolar disorder than those who get average grades, new research published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists suggests.
In a similar vein to the suggested link between ADHD and creative genius it's good to see research supporting a more complex take on mental health, away from a simplistic good/bad analysis. Everyone's mental health is an interplay of factors, with positive and negative elements.
Anyway, back to the study, which used a Swedish hospital discharge register to test associations between the students' academic achievement and admission to hospital with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder between the ages of 17 and 31. A whopping 713,876 individuals were included in the study.
The researchers found that students with excellent school performance were almost four times as likely to develop bipolar disorder as adults, compared to those with average grades. This increased risk remained after the researchers controlled for other factors such as parental education and socioeconomic status.
Interestingly, students with the poorest grades were also at a moderately increased risk of bipolar disorder.
Lead researcher Dr James MacCabe, senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, said: "A-grades in Swedish and Music had particularly strong associations, supporting the literature which consistently finds associations between linguistic and musical creativity and bipolar disorder."
The researchers put forward several possible explanations for the link:
It's worth pointing out, of course, that the vast majority of A-grade students don't go on to develop bipolar disorder
Anyway, back to the study, which used a Swedish hospital discharge register to test associations between the students' academic achievement and admission to hospital with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder between the ages of 17 and 31. A whopping 713,876 individuals were included in the study.
The researchers found that students with excellent school performance were almost four times as likely to develop bipolar disorder as adults, compared to those with average grades. This increased risk remained after the researchers controlled for other factors such as parental education and socioeconomic status.
Interestingly, students with the poorest grades were also at a moderately increased risk of bipolar disorder.
Lead researcher Dr James MacCabe, senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, said: "A-grades in Swedish and Music had particularly strong associations, supporting the literature which consistently finds associations between linguistic and musical creativity and bipolar disorder."
The researchers put forward several possible explanations for the link:
- people in a state of hypomania can often be witty and inventive, and able to link ideas in innovative ways.
- people with bipolar disorder often experience unusually strong emotional responses, which may help their talent in art, music and literature.
- people with hypomania often have extraordinary stamina and can keep concentrating for long periods of time.
It's worth pointing out, of course, that the vast majority of A-grade students don't go on to develop bipolar disorder
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