Mind your mental health this Christmas

Typically, what should a Christmas be like?

LIKE THIS

Mulled wine, endless boxes of chocolate leaving only the coconut ones at the bottom (to my joy- LOVE coconut), and a house filled with the wild laughter of a million and one family members. Elf has been on repeat for the eleventh time since the 1st of December, and you're trying to nicely wrap the presents you spent 2 months trying to find for your incredibly hard-to-shop-for partner, but you end up with a papery mess of sellotape. 

But...

Some families this year will be sat watching Elf with an empty space on the sofa. For 20,000 families this year, the space will be filled in a hospital bed because of a mental health problem. 

It is so important for me to write about mental health particularly in December. I know previous Christmas' for me have been difficult to deal with, and I'm betting a couple of you reading this will resonate with that. I've had Decembers where I've not been counting down the days until it's Christmas, but rather until it's over. If you happen to be doing just that, then this might be good for you to read.

'How can you NOT be excited about Christmas?!'

The common response of utter shock if someone might not be looking forward to the Christmas holidays. I'm writing this so you can understand a little more about why for some people, this can be quite an unbearable time of year.

Depression

Work on yourself at your own pace x

Whether it's SAD, bipolar or unipolar depression it sucks the life and energy out of its hosts. When you've spent every day of the year trying to fight an uphill battle, one day surrounded by the expectation of happiness could be unbearable. There is a pressure to be 'on' all day which is totally exhausting, and someone with depression may feel ashamed and disappointed in themselves if they are unable to fabricate this norm of 'Christmas spirit'. For those who might feel lonely enough in the world as it is, this pressure can be detrimental and result in social isolation from family, potentially inducing a depressive episode. Here are a few things to try and help cope with feelings of depression:

1. A Time Out- Set yourself timings. Spend half an hour helping your dad chop the vegetables and season the turkey, and then allow yourself a half an hour 'break' to yourself. This will help break up the day, and prevent the feeling of exhaustion from trying to be 'on' all day. 
2. Exercise- this is known to be therapeutic for depression. Go for a Christmas morning walk with your family, or a light jog alone if you want some time to yourself.
3. Avoid alcohol- alcohol is a depressant, and if you are on antidepressants their effect may be diminished by the influence of alcohol. Think carefully about whether you feel like you're in a good place before having a glass or two of wine. 

Grief

Christmas can be a trigger for those of us who have lost something special. It make the holidays a time for bereavement rather than celebration. It might be that someone you love is spending their Christmas in hospital, or maybe there is an extra place mat for your dinner table that won't be used. Perhaps there's an empty dog basket by the fireplace where your best friend in the world should be. 

"The absence of a loved one is noted and emphasized by what is supposed to be a time of celebration"

 I wish more than anything there was a pill you could take, or potion to drink, but the truth is everyone responds differently to grief. The main emotions are denial, anger, regret and sadness, people will experience these at different times and intensities. Unfortunately there is no prescription for coping with a loss, however here are few things that could help with your grief:

1. A Stocking- hang a stocking up in honor of your loss. Throughout the holiday, little gifts or items can be put in, and at some point in your Christmas day as a family you each take it in turns to take a gift out and talk about what memory it brings. This generates sentimental, comfortable, reminiscent conversation about their wonderful existence.
2. A Ritual- Is there something your sister, cousin, grandad, dog or friend loved to do at Christmas? Play their favourite Christmas song, go on a Christmas Eve walk past the pond where it once took an hour to convince the dog to come out. Doing something like this can be very healing.
3. Cry- if you need to cry, cry. You won't ruin Christmas by crying, it is an honest expression of emotion that might pave the way for other family members who are struggling to cope with their own emotions. 

Eating disorders

Christmas comes with a focus on indulging. For people with eating disorders, the prospect of Christmas dinner is absolutely terrifying. Not just because of the bottomless dish of roast potatoes and boxes of chocolate, but because of the fear of failing your family. Your eating behaviour dictates whether everyone else will enjoy the rest of the day. Christmas for me felt like an exam I would either pass or fail, and going to the toilet during the meal was cheating.

A wonderfully accurate sign I saw in a Christmas market

 I sometimes felt as if everyone's eyes were burning holes in my back as I left the table. There's the sadness in your grandma's eyes when you politely say no to her Christmas Pudding, and there are deep frown lines indented on dad's forehead when your plate has two carrots, a piece of turkey and a roast potato that he'll inevitably be eating himself. I'm going to give you a few things to have a go at doing if you or a family member are struggling to cope with your eating disorder on Christmas: 

1. Christmas is NOT about food- take the focus away from food. Emphasize to yourself or to the individual suffering the importance of other aspects of Christmas: meeting up with friends at the pub after Church, catching up with your brother who's come back from university and hearing about his endless drunken escapades. Focusing on these positive aspects make the negative thoughts associated with food less central and less stressful.
2. Use a small plate- Use a smaller plate and try to fill it. This helps you to put enough on your plate to keep dad's frown lines at bay, but also allows you to go at your own pace comfortably and either leave a little if you're getting full, or have second portions if you are still hungry! 
3. Don't be alone- When alone, you isolate yourself from your family and rely on your disordered behaviours to get you through the day. I know this is the easiest and most painless thing to do, but your family will be trying very hard with you so try and reciprocate that and join in. Ask your cousin to come for a walk with you, or play a game of pictionary (and WIN) or watch the Grinch for the eighth time!

Elves have got it right

You're not being a scrooge

Hopefully you can see that your anxieties and worries about Christmas day don't make you an awful person, they are understandable, natural, but most importantly relievable. I know the tips I have given won't work for everyone, and I'm not saying that there is a quick fix or a miraculous trick to turn off your struggles for one day.

I am also aware that there are people who will be suffering with anxiety, substance abuse, OCD, work stress, break-ups, but I hope you find that you can use or adapt a couple of the tips I have suggested to look after your mental health this Christmas.

You're not alone in your struggle at this time of year, I'm nervous about Christmas because of bulimic tendencies that try to elbow their way into my day, you might be nervous about resisting alcohol or experiencing a panic attack. Have a go with me at using a couple of the tips above, or if they don't appeal to you and your coping mechanisms then do a little research and explore other ways of looking after yourself. 

Thinking of the 20,000 families who will be missing a brother, sister, or parent on December the 25th, please mind your mental health this Christmas to make sure it isn't your sofa that's left with an empty you-sized space xxx

Let's all be a bit more Buddy this Christmas

Rainy Days and Relapse

I've had a lot of good days in my recovery, some absolutely amazing days, weeks, MONTHS even. But it's very unusual to have a rainbow without the rain.

Addiction relapse is common. Studies imply roughly half of all individuals who try to get sober- be that with eating, drinking, drug abuse, sex - will return to a period of relapse, with 70-90% experiencing at least one mild-moderate episode. So basically, it's the detoxing from your object of addiction which is the easiest part, however to try and change behaviours which drive an addict to use is much harder.

The Rainbow- A 'good' day

Donut's for breakfast at 11am in
Brighton- just because

Whether you're recovering mentally from depression, anxiety, OCD, an eating disorder, a break up or a divorce, alcoholism, the loss of someone dear to you, bipolar disorder, self-harm, you will have days where the black hole in your mind that once consumed your every cell occupies nothing more than a little dusty corner of your brain. You can roll out of bed in the morning without wanting, or even thinking, to crawl straight back into it. You can have leftover pizza for breakfast and have 3 sugars in your tea and smile whilst you do so, without the sudden paralyzing panic of how you're going to get rid of those calories. You can walk past the coffee shop he used to take you to on Sunday mornings without your heart beating so hard it could crack your ribs, and you can go to the pub with the 'lads' and order a pint of coke without even thinking about the froth of a beer or the lemon with a tequila shot. 

The point is, a good day in recovery isn't always getting a bonus at work or winning the lottery, it's something as simple as finding the motivation to move, or eating chips for the first time, or washing your hands only 3 times instead of 48. It's the feeling of normality. 

The Rain- A 'bad' day

Acknowledge your bad day's-
suppressing them only prolongs them.

Contrary to conventional ideas, it is not one single event that triggers a relapse, but a series of progressive events. Everyone experiences relapse differently, for example a relapse for me is like a water balloon; you can fill the balloon up with stress, arguments, work, an injury, an illness, an irrational panic at dinner, but it takes one tiny needle in the balloon to trigger my relapse. It can be something as small as not being able to find a shoe, or misreading a text, thinking someone is annoyed at me, or my laptop not working, or getting my statistics question wrong. This balloon just gets fuller and fuller until the needle comes, and in that instant I can find myself standing in the bathroom staring at the toilet for half an hour trying desperately to crawl out of the black hole that has come out from it's dusty corner in my brain. This is my bad day. 

People suffering with forms of addiction such as substance abuse or alcoholism or smoking typically experience relapse a little differently. This is an anonymous person we'll name Mitch:

"I'll be pushing myself. I'll be going to work functions, out for dinner with my wife, not once having a drop of alcohol on my tongue. And I'll keep pushing. And pushing. And nothing bad happens to me. Why does nothing bad happen? I'm doing all these things I found impossible to do 9 months ago, why am I still alright?"

THAT is where relapse often begins to evolve. Because Mitch has been steadily improving, bettering himself and his relationship with his wife, he subconsciously sabotages his progress and his achievements because it is a new, uncomfortable feeling of normality that he is not used to, and may not think he deserves.

He begins to distrust how far he's realistically come, catastrophising events in his head relating to his marriage or family or work, refusing to believe that his new lifestyle can really be so simple and so easy to maintain. He drives past places he used to go drinking alone, feeling an invisible rope pulling him into the car park. He's spent years living and breathing an addiction to alcohol, and as they say old habits do die hard. The intentionally sweet comments such as "You're doing so well, keep it up" become a boulder on his back to carry. This boulder gets heavier and heavier until it crushes him, and he finds himself standing at a bar with a tenner in his hand about to ask the barman for a whiskey. This is his bad day. 

Why relapse does NOT make you a failure- Because it's biological

Relapse often occurs in response to cues related to your object of addiction, so for Mitch it would be pubs, parties, bars where he's previously carried out his addictive behaviours. An addiction has a two-stage formation process, and these cues or 'triggers' are the products. Stage 1 is where there is hyperstimulation in the reward functions of the brain; drinking alcohol makes Mitch feel good, which in turn encourages him to do it again. Stage 2 involves repeated overstimulation within these reward functions, resulting in long term changes to how surrounding areas of the brain controlling memory, judgement and impulsivity, function. I've read a very helpful analogy to understand this:

You leave the upstairs bathtub running and depart for the weekend. The water overflows and runs into the hall. Like a waterfall it splashes down the stairs and into the living room. When you return, you find that the walls are soaked, mold is forming, and the wood floors are warped and peeling. Your original problem was that the water wasn’t turned off, but now the floor needs to be ripped up and the walls torn out. Turning off the faucet (detoxing) doesn’t undo the damage caused by the water (alcohol) to the rest of your house (brain).

 

The rain is coming...

Numerous studies illustrate that the first 90 days of recovery are when the largest number of relapses occur, due to the rewiring of the brain from e.g drug abuse. The urge to drink, or use will worsen before the wiring of the brain can be overcome, therefore unfortunately the longer the duration of being 'clean', the higher the receptiveness to cues in the environment associated with the addiction.

I want to emphasise here how important it is that if you are recovering from some form of addiction, be it medically diagnosed or not, recognize your triggers. This is because you'll have to overcome them more than once, twice, twenty-five times. I know my triggers, such as certain places I've been, certain foods, certain people even, being full, conversations concerning restrictive diets. 

It is 10x harder to prevent a relapse if it's coming from a trigger you're not aware of. Once you're aware of your major triggers, you can work on reducing their impact on your life. For example when I would unintentionally notice the calorie content on the box of something I've eaten I would become extremely panicky, so for the first couple of months or so I would use scissors to cut out the nutrition content on boxes of food. Then, if I ever had a burning desire to know how many calories was in 70grams of cereal, I would know there was a problem and would in turn be able to actively deal with this. 

So just make sure you use your umbrella

When recovering from mental illness, yes there are triggers for relapse, but it is also possible to have triggers for recovery. I wear a key round my neck with the word 'HOPE' written on it; I got it for my birthday from a company supporting a charity that fights eating disorders. This key is now a trigger for my recovery, if I get to the point at which I'm standing staring at the toilet or I'm feeling unbearably full after a meal or if I'm crying over an assignment mark, I can feel the weight of the key round my neck and it helps to remind me what I've worked so hard for. 

In the same way some people in recovery have a person they will call, talk to, text, visit if they feel a craving or an urge. This person dissipates the anxiety and the stress over a trigger for a relapse by rationalising your thoughts for you, explaining an alternative solution logically, they are your umbrella in the rain, they lift the boulder off your back. They become a trigger for recovery. I was lucky enough that before my boyfriend was actually my boyfriend, he was that person for me whilst I was struggling with my recovery at the start of university, picking me up when I couldn't do it myself, which I will be forever grateful to him for. Eventually, subconsciously the trigger for relapse is dissociated with the feeling of reward and instead it becomes associated with a new reward: recovery. 

Many of us like to believe we are strong, independent, capable of dealing with our own problems. But PLEASE, if there is someone there who can help you, even if it's just to go and sit in their room on the floor so you're not alone, use them. They're there because they want to help you recover. 

People don't walk in the pouring rain dragging their umbrella on the floor, so why should you?

Food is not a 'Treat'

 I'm going to talk about something that is very close to my heart.

Children in primary school should be worrying about what game to play at breaktimes. They should be thinking about what they want to dress up as for Halloween, or what kind of hair style they want their Mom to do for them for their school photo. At most, their biggest concern should be whether or not they have filled in their Reading Diary for the week. 

But that's not what's happening anymore. Between 2010-11 over 6,500 children and teenagers were treated by hospitals (this excludes the hundreds that will still be suffering silently- these figures are cases where their illnesses were so severe that hospitalization was the only option) for eating disorders. In 2007-08, there were 1,718. According to the Health and Social Care Information Centre, the annual figures of children who were able to receive treatment showed 79 children were below the age of 10, 56 being 5 or under. Now these data are only from 2013; as you can see number of cases tripled from 2007-2011, so it is devastating to think what the statistics would illustrate to us now.

I was around 14/15 years old when I started developing patterns of disordered eating behaviour. I don't know why it was food, I don't know why it was my body, but I found a way to feel in control of a world that was throwing every rock and boulder it had at me. Some of us keep a diary, others will go for a walk, a few people will call a friend, maybe you sit and pummel a pillow until you're exhumed of all emotional turmoil; but I punished my body. And that was, and is still, the thing that frightens me the most. Now imagine just how frightening that would be for a child in primary school.

I know because of an extreme increase in media exposure over the past several years, children who perhaps might have a biological susceptibility to mental illness are suffering at younger and younger ages. So I am writing this post to tell you how we need to help children develop and grow up having a healthy relationship with food and their bodies.

Food should NEVER be called a 'Treat'

If you tell a child that they can have fish fingers and chips as a 'special treat' then you are essentially telling them that some food is forbidden. By telling them this, when they eat in the context outside of 'special treat' they feel guilt, and guilt is a huge part of the cognitive processing in eating disorders. Don't tell a child they can only have chocolate 'if they've been good'; because if they develop confidence issues, they will inevitably struggle to see themselves as a good person, and in turn something as simple as chocolate becomes impossible to them. They don't believe they deserve it. Encourage children to try new things. Ensure that they know they are allowed to eat and that nothing is restricted.

I understand that on the other end of the scale is the problem of obesity, and I am not telling you to feed your child burgers, sweets and chinese takeaways everyday, I am simply telling you not to restrict nor forbid them of any type of food. My Mom swears by the rule of everything in moderation; you wouldn't eat 20 apples in a day just as you would not eat 20 chocolate bars in a day. Moderation provides you with all and every type of food,whereas restriction provides you with a limited number of perceived 'good' foods. I believe in moderation, and I believe in not applying rules or regulations when it comes to food. If I want a packet of crisps, I'll have one. If I want two, I'll have two. And I won't hurt myself for that because that's what my body wanted. A good relationship with food comes without rules. Just ensure that your child enjoys a range of food, so that nothing is forbidden.

Exercise is fun, not forced

Children love to run around, play games, eat sand (well I did anyway), and ride their bikes up and down the lane. They exercise without even regarding it as exercising; because they are having fun. Don't make your child think that exercising is a neccessity, because otherwise they'll develop a relationship with exercise based on 'need to' rather than 'love to'. The fun of learning how to ride a bike will become lost. Emphasise non-body related benefits of exercise or afterschool sports clubs, such as making new friends, Mom having to buy you a new pair of neon trainers, taking part in competitions, getting fresh air, sleeping better. 

Monitor the media

Demi Lovato's documentary 'Stay Strong
is incredible- 100% recommend!

It is impossible nowadays to shelter children from the demons of the internet. Magazines are sprawled with models portraying an unattainable body image, whether it be a size 00 woman or a man with muscles buldging out uncomfortably from beneath his skin. Whilst you should not encourage deep analysis of these kinds of photographs to your child, it is important to help them recognize the process of air-brushing and retouching that creates them. Introduce your child, your little brother or sister, to real, honest role models such as Demi Lovato, who herself suffered with eating disorders and bipolar disorder, as these are the people that will show children it's beautiful to be completely, totally and utterly naturally yourself.

(In case you are interested, she recently did a nude photoshoot without airbrushing or retouching: http://uk.eonline.com/news/706687/demi-lovato-explains-her-nude-photo-shoot-i-wouldn-t-have-done-that-6-months-ago-watch-now) 

Freddie Flintoff is a man I particularly look up to because of his honesty about suffering from bulimia whilst playing cricket. It is good, honest people we should be trying to expose our children to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIcV8VX_K1w Here you can watch his interview with Piers Morgan about his battles with depression and his eating disorder.

Be the person you'd want your child to learn from

Your child, little brother or sister, absolutely adores you. They look to you to decide how they should behave, dress, eat, act. Children learn by modelling; a strand of behavioural reciprocation where learning occurs via observation of a model (you). In turn, it is also a form of vicarious learning, and the child will attempt to copy the behaviour without any reinforcement of the action. So, eat 3 slices of cake for pudding, have a takeaway once a week, talk about how much fun your spin class was, tell your child they look absolutely beautiful once in a while. Show your child how much you can love yourself, because they'll try with all their might to love themselves just like you do. 

If you are concerned about your child, or someone elses, please don't overlook it. Visit Beat's website for information about how to approach the situation if you believe someone to be symptomatic of an eating disorder. 

http://www.b-eat.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwtaexBRCohZOAoOPL88oBEiQAr96eSJfUAIjRhhbP1-51YSlwIOLZuMPspKwupCYQJ8yBQzEaAu078P8HAQ

Eating is our most basic human behaviour. If a child is not eating, they are denying themselves the most basic human instinct: to survive. 

Be kind to yourself, because if you have a little boy or girl in the house, they'll be watching, learning, and reciprocating. Now, go and make them a sandwich x

Creating insanity...or is it the other way round?

Firstly, because schizophrenia will be mentioned frequently throughout this post: SCHIZOPHRENIA IS NOT A SPLIT PERSONALITY

In fact if you want a definition, here you go: "a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation." Pretty wordy. I know.

Guess who's the artist...

Secondly, you may or may not be aware of the notion that creativity is thought by some people to be akin for insanity. If you happen to be a very creative individual by no means am I calling you insane. I promise. My boyfriend is an artist and he's perfectly sane (well...I'll let you make of that what you will from the picture of him here. And yes, those are suit pyjamas) I am simply interested in a connection between the brain chemistry of individuals who happen to be gifted with a creative mind, and individuals affected by mental illness

Now let me explain.

Vincent van Gogh- Starry Night

Insanely artistic, or artistically insane?

Whilst Vincent van Gogh was creating some of the most brilliant paintings of all time, (unfortunately his brilliance was only recognized after he had died), he was consumed by mental illness. Plagued with depression, anxiety disorder at a paralyzing level and displaying symptoms of bipolar disorder, these illnesses eventually drove him to claim his own life in 1890.

Edvard Munch manifested the infamous "Scream" painting after one of his hallucinations had inspired him. He endured a life battling depression alongside agoraphobia (irrational fear of public places), and had reached the point of a mental breakdown. The Norwegian artist's family had a history with mental illness, which was most prevalent in his sister. 

However the interesting thing about Munch, is the intricate relationship he describes between his insanity and his creativity:

"My fear of life is neccessary to me, as is my illness. Without (...) I am a ship without a rudder."

(...) Their destruction would destroy my art."

Edvard Munch- Scream

Was Munch's creativity a product of his ill mental health, or was his mental health compromised by his creative ability? Would it have been possible for Gogh and Munch's creativity to excel if their mental illness's were non-existent? Are these men insane because they are artistic or is it their artistic ability that drives their insanity?

If you're wondering what my thoughts on this are, then I'll briefly tell you. My experiences with my own mental health have changed me as a person. I am far more compassionate and observant than I used to be, and I can say whilst I truly resent what mental illness is capable of destroying, I appreciate what it has made me capable of becoming. This is what I believe Munch was in some way describing too.

Research

Kari Stefansson, the founder and CEO of deCODE (a genetics company based in Reykjavik) conducted a study using the medical information from 86,000 Icelanders to identify genetic variants that doubled the average risk of schizophrenia as well as increasing the risk of bipolar disorder by over a third. After looking for how common these genetic variants were in individuals of art societies, there was a 17% increase (!!!!!!!!!!!) compared to the rest of the population. THERE'S MORE! So because this was a pretty incredible finding, these guys checked their findings in medical databases in the whole of the Netherlands and Sweden. In 35,000 people, "creative" people were nearly 25% more likely to carry the variants! So just imagine if we analysed this across the Globe...

These findings support the idea of the concept 'Mad Genius'- creativity has given the world Mozart's, van Gogh's, Nash's. It is an extremely important quality within society, it just comes at a price to the extraordinary 1% of the population.

Creativity does not always mean paintbrushes and pencils

1928-2015

John Nash who inspired the film 'A Beautiful Mind' (a must watch by the way, but make sure you're not wearing mascara) was an American Mathematician of whom suffered with schizophrenia. He believed all men in red ties were participating in a communist conspiracy against him, and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1959. Interestingly, he also describes his contributions to mathematic science as related to his mental illness. He was very worried about losing his recognition if he could not produce new ideas and new theories, and he attributed his motivation to excel to his disorder:

"I wouldn't have had good scientific ideas if I had thought more normally."

1946-2006

1950-1983

Then we have Syd Barett, who suffered from drug addiction and reportedly schizophrenia, yet he was the driving force for the formation of Pink Floyd. Ludwig van Beethovan produced beautiful music of which is still celebrated today, however in the process of creating these masterpieces he was living with mood disorders. Karen Carpenter was part of the Carpenters, creating well known songs like 'Top of the World'; although beneath the creation of such music was anorexia and mood disorders.

1942-2008

David Forster Wallace wrote a novel called "Infinite Jest" and he was considered to be one of the most astounding literary talents of his generation; with great sadness he actually committed suicide in 2008. Wallace was swamped by depression of which he was first diagnosed with whilst at college. Three years prior to his death, he spoke of suicide in a speech at Kenyon College, and one particular line pulls at every string and fibre in my heart:

"And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger." 

But so we see that it is not always about our conventional ideas of creativity, but of scientific, theoretic, mathematic, musical creativity too that has some form of a relationship to mental health.

I want you to understand how exceptional these individuals are. Most people who suffer with disorders such as schizophrenia are unable to engage in any kind of normal day-to-day functions, let alone excel in their own creative domains like these incredible minds were able to.

There's a hell of a lot going on in our brains

Creativity and insanity share traces of similarity, such as "thinking outside the box", processing thoughts and ideas very quickly, a heightened perception of visual, auditory and somatic stimuli. Think about what I have just told you. Where is all this occurring? Yep...say it...you're right...in our brains.

It is an intriguing idea that people who are living with mental illness themselves or with a family member who is suffering, have a higher chance of being creatively intelligent. 

Research

Professor Fredik Ullen has looked at the human brain chemistry and his findings illustrate a possibile explanation for these trends. He checked out dopamine (D2) receptor genes believed to be responsible mood and divergent thought. Of those studied who did well on tests of divergent thought (a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring as many solutions as possible) it was found that highly creative people had a significantly lower than expected density of D2 receptors in the thalamus; which is notable in diagnoses of schizophrenia too. The thalamus is basically like a filter for information heading on its way towards the cortex (which sorts out our cognition and reasoning). 

There are less of these little receptors in
people with schizophrenia!

The less D2 receptors here, the less filtering, thus there is a sh*t load more information flowing to the cortex. SO this kind of clues us in about the "thinking outside the box" concept: creative individuals see a connection between a break and a fix that most of us wouldn't know existed. 

Another thing that is important to highlight is that Mark Millard (member of the BPS) has stated that the overlap between mental health could explain why creative people have an astonishing amount of motivation. This is shown in e.g Nash's sheer determination to continually produce mathematic phenomena, and it is because of this: Creativity is uncomfortable for the individual. It is the dissatisfaction they feel with the present that motivates them to make changes.

"Creative people, like those with psychotic illnesses, tend to see the world differently to most. It's like looking at a shattered mirror. They see the world in a fractured way."