Creativity and intelligence quotient in bipolar disorder patients and their offspring: a case-control study

Background and There are several studies that hypothesize presence of a connection between psychopathological status and creativity. Ïn this study we compare the creativity and intelligence quotient in bipolar parents and their offspring (all euthymic) with healthy control group and their offspring. Twenty patients with bipolar disorder and twenty of their offspring (all euthymic) matched for sex، age، socioeconomic and educational levels together with twenty normal control subjects and twenty of their offspring were recruited. Âll participants completed creativity randsyp questionnaire (an objective measure of creativity) and Wechsler adult intelligence scale test sheets. Mean scores on these instruments were compared across groups. Bipolar parents showed significant decrease on Wechsler adult intelligence scale (p<0. 05) compared with healthy control parents. Total intelligence quotient scores of bipolar offspring and healthy offspring of healthy controls showed significant difference. Çonclusion: We found that bipolar disorder patients and healthy control subjects had similar creativity on creativity randsyp questionnaire. Ïn Çontrast to some studies، we did not find high creativity in bipolar offspring، of course there was important limitation in our study: all case and control groups had low socioeconomic and low education and might have it caused these results. Ïntelligence quotient scores were lower in bipolar parents than healthy control subjects. We also conclude that bipolar disorder maybe associated with significant and persistent cognitive impairment. Ïntelligence quotient may also be affected at least in some recovered bipolar patients.