Bipolar chemistry may foster creativity.
It may be that the increased brain stimulation in mania (and positive-symptom schizophrenia) helps provide that particular blend of openness, obsession, intensity, and altered perception which fuels creativity (or provides the insights to be expressed during calmer states).
Scurvy and pellagra (see previous post) are not the only conditions in which severe mental symptoms are "cured" by vitamins.
Others include:
Wernicke-Korsakoff psychosis, associated with B1 depletion due to chronic alcoholism.
The dementia caused by difficulty absorbing and/or insufficient intake of B12.
The depression associated with lack of vitamin D and sunlight.
The depression of iron, copper, or B6- deficiency anemia.
And so on.
How important can nutrients be? Can they really do much for severe mental health symptoms? Two old illnesses, whose vitamin cures have been used by modern medicine for the past hundred years, will serve to provide an intuitive glimpse into the potency of nutrients in brain function.
1. The brain is physically made of and runs on nutrients. So nutrients have a profound influence on its function.
2 Our soils are so depleted, the environment so toxic, addiction and junk food so prevalent, and nature so devastated, that our brains can no longer get sufficient nourishment. Some of us are especially vulnerable.
