I read a story on BBC news about a new study by a group of Swedes who found that “writers had a higher risk of anxiety and bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, unipolar depression, and substance abuse.” Apparently, we writers are as much as twice as likely to kill ourselves as compared to non-writers. Dancers and photographers, according to the study, have a higher rate of bipolar disorder as well.

It’s the latest in the long line of studies that tell us things we already knew, but it is interesting. The BBC article calls into question the treatment of such disorders if they could also be viewed as a gift. Some of the most famous writers of history were depressed and several committed suicide, but before they did they wrote things that have made themselves immortal. I think the suicidal Earnest Hemingway is probably the most famous example, but it seems like nearly every name we know for authors are quirky in the least.

Another study article linked on the side from two years ago reports that creativity and the brain patterns associated with it are close to a schizophrenic brain. Apparently, it takes being insane (or at least the brain patterns of a madman) to create art. Another one on there says that poets in particular are 20 times more likely to experience mental illness. Twenty times!

I’m twice as likely to kill myself as a non-novelist and as a poet I am 20 times more likely to end up in a psych ward! Nifty.