Straight-A schoolchildren at higher risk of bipolar disorder, research claims

Source: Telegraph >> Read Full Article and Comment

Straight-A schoolchildren have a much higher risk of suffering from bipolar disorder than less intelligent pupils, according to new research.

Clever children are almost four times more likely to suffer from the condition, which is also known as manic depression.

The latest finding, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, supports a commonly held belief that exceptional intellectual ability is associated with the mental illness.

Famous sufferers include Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Nelson, Alexander The Great, Michelangelo, Picasso, Mozart, Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Christopher Columbus.

Researchers analysed the exam results of more than 700,000 Swedish teenagers and discovered those with the most excellent performance were nearly four times as likely to develop bipolar disorder as adults, compared to those with average grades.

This increased risk even remained after they made allowances for other factors such as parental education and socioeconomic status.

Students with the poorest grades were also at a moderately increased risk of bipolar disorder. They were almost twice as likely to develop bipolar compared to those with average grades.

Psychiatrist Dr James MacCabe, of King’s College London, said: “We found achieving an A grade is associated with increased risk for bipolar disorder, particularly in humanities and to a lesser extent in science subjects.

“A-grades in Swedish and Music had particularly strong associations, supporting the literature which consistently finds associations between linguistic and musical creativity and bipolar disorder.”

The researchers, who teamed up with colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, put forward several possible explanations for the link. First, people in a state of hypomania, a mild period of mania or elevated mood, can often be witty and inventive, and able to link ideas in innovative ways.

Second, people with bipolar disorder often experience unusually strong … Continue Reading

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