Children of bp parents are more creative

Many scientists, noteably Kay Redfield Jamison in her book Touched with Fire, see a link between creativity and bipolar disorder, but now researchers at Stanford University's School of Medicine have found that having bipolar parents can pay dividends in creativity.

A small study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, said offspring of parents with bp -- even those who did not suffer the condition themselves -- scored higher on creativity tests than those with mentally sound parents. "I think it's fascinating," study coauthor Dr. Kiki Chang, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, told the United Press International. "There is a reason that many people who have bipolar disorder become very successful, and these findings address the positive aspects of having this illness."