We of the craft [poets] are all crazy, remarked the 18th century British romantic Lord Byron about himself and his fellow poets. Implied in this statement is the notion that there exists a special kind of relationship between creativity and being crazy. Moreover, there is a certain form of craziness in particular that generally tends to be associated with the arts, certainly in the public mind, and that is namely manic-depressive illness. The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates discussed artistic madness or possession by the Muses as follows: If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses… he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman. More recent empirical research employing systematic and biographical methodologies reveals that there is an association between manic-depressive illness and the artistic temperament. Professor Kay Redfield Jamison spearheaded research on live artists and revealed that there is considerable overlap between intense creative states and hypomania. The purpose of this systematic review is to present historical perspectives and contemporary research evidence that supports or refutes John Dryden’s notion that: Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide.
Keywords: manic-depression, bipolar disorder, poetry, artistic temperament, melancholia