Contents:
- Medical Video: Brain and Mental Health | Nucleus Health
- Is it true that geniuses are more susceptible to mental disorders?
- What is the connection between intelligence and mental disorders?
- So, can someone's intelligence make him "crazy"?
Medical Video: Brain and Mental Health | Nucleus Health
A number of studies have shown that genius figures who are able to change history usually tend to have mental disorders or personality disorders.
Call it a genius painter, Vincent Van Gogh, who ended his life by suicide. Or Charles Darwin, a scientist who popularized the theory of evolution, which turned out to have phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Another example is a mathematician and Nobel Prize-winning economist, John Nash, who turns out to have schizophrenia.
So, is the genius of one's brain more powerful, will it be more susceptible to mental disorders? Check out the answer below, yes!
Is it true that geniuses are more susceptible to mental disorders?
A study in the British Journal of Psychiatry revealed that children with good academic achievement in school were four times more prone to bipolar disorder than those with mediocre achievements.
The results of similar studies were also successfully recorded in The American Journal of Psychiatry. In this study, study participants with high IQs were also more prone to bipolar disorder.
Therefore, people who have above average brain ability are indeed very closely related to certain mental disorders.
What is the connection between intelligence and mental disorders?
The experts themselves do not understand exactly how people with amazing intelligence can be more susceptible to mental disorders. However, a study by experts in Canada and the United States could be a springboard to understand the relationship between these two things.
In the study published in the journal Neuron, it can be seen that there is a special protein content in the brains of genius people that is also found in the brains of mental patients, especially schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This protein is alleged to be the common thread between intelligence and some types of mental disorders.
However, further research is still needed to prove the extent of the role of this particular protein in the functioning of the human brain.
A psychiatric specialist from the US, Dr. Nicholas Pediaditakis, has a theory that is not less interesting. If observed, genius leaders who also suffer from mental disorders usually have one characteristic trait in common. They tend to be awkward and withdraw from their social environment. This may be caused by a psychiatric disorder.
In fact, humans are indeed designed to coexist and socialize with other humans. So, indeed there are many parts of the human brain that are responsible for carrying out social functions.
Now, if the parts of the brain that regulate your social functions do not work too hard, the brain has a residual energy or space that can be transferred to its function. Therefore, in genius and creative people, their brain functions to think, concentrate, and solve problems become more flexible and maximal.
That's why they become more capable of brewing brilliant ideas and making them happen well. For example in the form of art and literature, the fruit of political thought, or the invention of cutting-edge technology. But again, the theory of Dr. This Nicholas Pediaditakis still has to be tested further before becoming legal evidence.
So, can someone's intelligence make him "crazy"?
There are many factors that can cause a person to get a mental disorder. Either because of genes inherited from parents, disorders or injuries to the brain, have experienced traumatic events, or misuse of substances such as alcohol and narcotics.
Therefore, it cannot be concluded that intelligence can make you "crazy" or have a mental disorder. Both are indeed interrelated, but until now experts have continued to study these links further.
