ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore empirical and theoretical connections between clinical and subclinical features of the affective disorders, other forms of psychopathology, and creativity. My focus is on normal-range, “noneminent” creativity and subclinical affective symptoms, particularly those related to bipolar affective disorder. I refer to the literature and present data on associations between scores on paper-and-pencil creativity tests and subclinical measures of symptoms. In addition, I describe several unresolved empirical and conceptual issues. Finally, I develop a tentative dynamic model for the interaction of cognitive and affective processes in the formation of a creative product within a particular genre or style. An integrative model that includes both affect and cognition can be applied to a variety of problems in the study of creativity, including accounting for the dynamics that underlie different artistic genres and switches among styles within a single work.
