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This gleaned and condensed from The Guardian, November 30, 2005: A survey comparing mental health and the number of sexual partners among the general population, artists and schizophrenics has found that artists are more likely to share key behavioural traits with schizophrenics, and that they have on average twice as many sexual partners as the rest of the population. Analysing 425 responses, Daniel Nettle, a psychologist at Newcastle University, and Helen Clegg, at the Open University in Milton Keynes found that artists and schizophrenics scored equally high on "unusual cognition", a trait which gives rise to a greater tendency to feel in between reality and a dream state, or to feel overwhelmed by one’s own thoughts. But the artists and schizophrenics scored very differently on another measure called introvertive anhedonia, which is characterised by social withdrawal and emotional emptiness. Unlike schizophrenics, artists, in line with the general population, scored very low. According to Dr Nettle, the results suggest that the creativity of some artists is fuelled by the unique world view mental illness can provide, but without the completely debilitating aspects of the condition. Instead, the artists are able to direct their creativity into artistic projects. The survey also found that compared with the general population, artists claimed to have had twice as many partners since the age of 18, and the number of partners increased with the seriousness with which they pursued their art. "If people’s attention is drawn to someone because they stand out, because they are doing something different, it can be a big aphrodisiac," he said. "What you usually find is that schizophrenia is so disruptive that it isn’t common in very successful people. "But if you have some of the traits, such as this unusual way of viewing the world, without the debilitating social withdrawal, and you find a way of channelling the creativity that gives you, it can be very attractive," said Dr Nettle, whose study is published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

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