How high intelligence could have a mental cost for some.
Disorders of mood could be the price some people pay for high intelligence, research finds.
Psychologists have found that higher childhood IQ is linked to features of bipolar disorder in young adulthood.
The research adds fuel to the debate over the connection between intelligence, creativity and mental health issues.
For the research 1,881 people were followed from age 8 until they were 22 or 23-years-old.
Their IQ was measured along with any characteristics of mood disorders.
The results showed that having ten more IQ points at age 8 was linked to being in the top ten per cent for having manic personality traits in their early twenties.
Professor Daniel Smith, one of the study’s authors said:
“A possible link between bipolar disorder and intelligence and creativity has been discussed for many years and many studies have suggested a link.
In this large study, we found that better performance on IQ tests at age eight predicted bipolar features in young adulthood.
We are not saying that high childhood IQ is a clear-cut risk factor for bipolar disorder but rather that there is likely to be a shared biology between intelligence and bipolar disorder which needs to be understood more fully.
Many other factors – including family history of mental illness, childhood adversity, stressful life events and drug misuse – are known to increase an individual’s risk of developing bipolar disorder.
Our finding has implications for understanding of how liability to bipolar disorder may have been selected through generations.
One possibility is that serious disorders of mood such as bipolar disorder are the price that human beings have had to pay for more adaptive traits such as intelligence, creativity and verbal proficiency.
This work will inform future genetic studies at the interface of intelligence, creativity and bipolar disorder, and will help with efforts to improve approaches to the earlier detection of bipolar disorder in adolescents and young adults.”
The study was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (Smith et al., 2015).
Hello, and welcome to PsyBlog. Thanks for dropping by.
This site is all about scientific research into how the mind works.
It’s mostly written by psychologist and author, Dr Jeremy Dean.
I try to dig up fascinating studies that tell us something about what it means to be human.
Jinsi akili ya juu inaweza kuwa na gharama ya kiakili kwa baadhi. Ugonjwa wa hisia za moyo unaweza kuwa sababu ya watu wengi kupoteza akili, utafiti unaonyesha. Wataalamu wa saikolojia wamegundua kwamba kiwango cha juu cha IQ katika utoto kinahusiana na dalili za ugonjwa wa bipolar katika watu wazima wachanga. Utafiti huo unaongeza mafuta kwenye mjadala juu ya uhusiano kati ya akili, ubunifu na masuala ya afya ya akili. Utafiti huo ulifuatilia watu 1,881 kuanzia umri wa miaka 8 hadi umri wa miaka 22 au 23. IQ yao ilipimwa pamoja na sifa zozote za matatizo ya hisia. Matokeo yalionyesha kuwa kuwa na alama 10 zaidi za IQ katika umri wa miaka 8 kulihusishwa na kuwa katika asilimia 10 ya juu kwa kuwa na sifa za utu wa manic katika miaka yao ya mapema ya ishirini. "Profesa Daniel Smith, mmoja wa waandishi wa utafiti huo, alisema: ""Uhusiano unaowezekana kati ya ugonjwa wa bipolar na akili na ubunifu umezungumziwa kwa miaka mingi na masomo mengi yamedokeza uhusiano huo." Katika utafiti huu mkubwa, tuligundua kuwa utendaji bora katika vipimo vya IQ katika umri wa miaka minane ulitabiri sifa za bipolar katika utu mzima wa vijana. "Hatuwezi kusema kwamba IQ ya juu ya utotoni ni sababu ya hatari ya ugonjwa wa bipolar, lakini badala yake kuna uwezekano wa kuwa na biolojia ya pamoja kati ya akili na ugonjwa wa bipolar ambayo inahitaji kueleweka zaidi. """ Sababu nyingine nyingi - ikiwa ni pamoja na historia ya familia ya ugonjwa wa akili, shida ya utotoni, matukio ya maisha yenye mkazo na matumizi mabaya ya dawa za kulevya - zinajulikana kuongeza hatari ya mtu binafsi ya kuendeleza ugonjwa wa bipolar. Ugunduzi wetu una athari kwa uelewa wa jinsi dhima ya ugonjwa wa bipolar inaweza kuwa imechaguliwa kupitia vizazi. "Uwezekano mmoja ni kwamba matatizo makubwa ya hisia kama vile ""bipolar disorder"" ni bei ambayo wanadamu wamelazimika kulipa kwa ajili ya sifa zaidi adaptive kama vile akili, ubunifu na ujuzi wa maneno." Utafiti huo unaonyesha kuwa utafiti wa baadaye wa chembe za urithi katika uhusiano wa akili, ubunifu na ugonjwa wa bipolar, na kusaidia katika juhudi za kuboresha mbinu za kugundua mapema ugonjwa wa bipolar katika vijana na watu wazima vijana, imechapishwa katika jarida la British Journal of Psychiatry. Hello na kuwakaribisha kwenye PsyBlog. Asanteni kwa kuja. Tovuti hii ni yote kuhusu utafiti wa kisayansi juu ya jinsi akili inafanya kazi. Ni hasa imeandikwa na mwanasaikolojia na mwandishi, Daktari Jeremy Dean. Mimi hujaribu kuchimba juu ya masomo ya kuvutia ambayo kutuambia kitu kuhusu nini ina maana ya kuwa binadamu.