European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Creative Genius and madness the fallacy of brain hemisphere dominance 8y Delthia Ricks United press International if German composer Robert Schumann had lived in the 20th Century psychiatrists probably would have diagnosed him As buttering from mood disorders complicated by alcoholism tuberculosis rheumatism and malaria Schumann who often experienced depressions delusions hallucinations and heard imaginary voices that spoke in musical tones swore thai it was Little voices that guided or Chon of his compositions. In tact the Liede Riabis song Cyclone of his Best known works is attributed to an imaginary voice. Scie tial s now believe Schumann suffered a term of manic depression. Emo Ronal disorders of this sort have Long been associated with artistic personalities and the link has been confirmed in medical literature. Bui More recent popular theories contend that he behaviour of artists enlers and musicians differs from Hal of other people in the population because of differences in brain hemisphere dominance. So in Schumann s Case was his mental torment his madness a result of environmental actors or a function of a brain Hal developed dil Lerenty euro scientists generally agree Hal while there indeed May be a link Between creative Genius and psychosis theories of brain hemisphere dominance in the truly creative have not been founded in act. There is a myth that music happens in the right Side of the brain and Hal Art happens on the led that s simply fallacious said or. Peter Ostwald a psychiatrist the University of California san Francisco medical Center. What we do know is that any truly creative production something that s original daring and authentic requires an integration of both hemispheres of the brain he psychiatrist said. Ostwald who specializes in studies of creative Genius and madness spent id years studying Schumann by Way of the composer s music letters and accounts of his illnesses recorded at a Vienna mental Hospital. He believes that in Schumann s Case creativity function of not because of an apparent mental illness but in spite of i University of Southern California  Joseph he logo said one reason it has become popular to View the brain s two hemispheres As separate entities May be thai from the time that we re very Lille we Start forming ideas about dichotomies and Lor Many years it was believed Hal Bolh sides of the brain were symmetrical and equal in their function he  recent years we have discovered Hal there Are anatomical differences. Bul we Don t know How these dil Serences translate Mlo differences in behaviour he said. What scientist do know is that specific Sites in the fed and right sides of the cerebral Corte the two hemispheres of the brain Are responsible Lor con Rolong the opposite Side of the body. Bul More precisely the right hemisphere is associated Wilh perception of nonverbal visual patterns Melody and Emolion. Hellige explained White i i Leatapo Alsyma Plath was manic Depra title. The left Side is associated Wilh verbal skills Cre Alively is Complex and involves a number of Dilfer enl components each of which can be called creative so it s diff cull to say thai just Ono aspect of the brain would control it he said. However. Ostwald said the relationship Between creativity and mental health is nol always Clear Cut and that Many Arliss musicians and even scientists suffer from a bipolar affective disorder or manic depressive illness. Grguras noted Lor their creativity who also Sull ered bipolar affective disorders include 19th Century Arlist Vincent Van Gogh 20lh Century poels Sylvia path Anne Sexton and Robert Lowell. James Barrie the creator of Peler pan composer Johannes Brahms Kemal Ataturk the father of Modem Turkey and Winston Churchill also Are believed to have suffered from similar disorders. Ostwald defines a bipolar disorder As mood abnormalities marked by severe depression and slowing of behaviour at one pole and excessive feelings of Joy accompanied by a speeding up of thought and behaviour at the other Schumann s Case is one of those where one does Lind a relationship Between creativity and madness we know thai in this kind of disorder thai Schumann apparently suffered that there s a disturbance in the neurotransmitters of the brain and we now know a Good Deal about How to reverse  Ostwald said drugs Hal alter Neur transmission the movement of nerve impulses in the brain result in obvious changes in behaviour. Lithium reduces the cyclic swings in the bipolar  Ostwald said. We Don t know precisely How i works but hero s no evidence that it inhibits creativity he said. Or. Robert Prien a psychopharmacology so at the National Institute of mental health near Washington said several hypotheses regarding How Lithium affects the brain have surfaced Over the past decade. Bul he added that none of the ideas has definitely shown How the chemical affects Neur transmission and alters behaviour. Erma Bombeck someone ought to come right out and say  in comes to Keepin America Beautiful tha Burden must be assumed by those who have no children i m sorry but it s Lime we slopped kidding ourselves children do not believe cleanliness is next 1o godliness. It s next to impossible and it skips a generation. That Means the generation who lives in squalor will begat children who launder Dusl balls before they throw them away it also Means you have constant conflict Between the Dagger and the nagged. In a poll somewhere the no l complaint of parents everywhere was the condition of the rooms of their children. One Mother told me that religion seems to play a Large part in her son s life because around the holidays he tidies up " not every year but sometimes. She said one year he gave her a trash bag of clothes and said when you get a Chance would you Wash some of this stuff after the bag quit moving she opened it carefully and was overcome with fumes of socks that had been inside out Lor three years. She put the clothes on soak Cycle producing a misture that by Legal standards should have exploded most of the socks had no Heel or toe but she was told to hang on to them As they were his emergency  there Are parents who believe in their heart that dirt and clutter Are something their kids will outgrow. They also believe their stomach is elastic and will not hang around their Knees following birth to shall remember to my dying Day the first time i walked Inlo my son s apartment says nether Molher i sucked in my breath Only to realize what i had just done to my lungs. Visions of dipl Hetia entered my mind. I went to work scrubbing and scouring. I realized it was a Wasle of Lime on my next visit. I looked at the 6-loot-3.200-Pound baby with Rosy Cheeks who does 300 pushups a Day Wilh one hand and nought How can he be that healthy in All this filth because it skips a generation occasion any you will have organized Pristine children who grow up Wilh parents who have seen too much cleanliness and there is a backlash against order. I knew of a woman who never unpacked her groceries or used places for food. They ate irom wrappers i was there the Day one of her kids came in and said any phone messages she nodded and said on the Coffee table it was written in dual. She yelled. Sit on it when you re  her kids followed her around with a sponge in both hands. The worst part of having children who choose scum tile for their bathrooms and Wear shirts that pollute your Contact lenses is that it reflects on your upbringing people think you accept and condone their lifestyles. The kindest thing my children have Ever done Lor me is net to use their right names. A 1886. L saturday. Augusts 1966 the stars and stripes Page 17