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Ninety percent of eminent poets studied had depression or mania

Huberman Lab · The Science & Treatment of Bipolar Disorder | Huberman Lab Essentials · July 16, 2026
Ninety percent of eminent poets studied had depression or mania
Huberman Lab
Huberman Lab
The Science & Treatment of Bipolar Disorder | Huberman Lab Essentials
"Especially for the poets, you find that as many as 90% of these very successful poets had either depression or mania. For the people in theater, the actors, the fraction of those individuals that have mania is exceedingly high. It's about 30% of those that they looked at who are actors have manic episodes or have full-blown mania."
Research examining over 1,000 eminent 20th century Westerners found that creative professions, particularly poets and actors, show dramatically higher rates of mood disorders compared to athletes or scientists. While the military and professional athletes showed minimal incidence, 90% of exceptional poets and 30% of actors displayed mania, suggesting a correlative link between creativity and bipolar symptoms.
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Huberman Lab
Huberman Lab

The Science & Treatment of Bipolar Disorder | Huberman Lab Essentials

August 3, 2026 · 31m · 2 Egleze moments
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