Ambition is the bridge between bipolar and the business idea
Two studies, one diagnosed and one at-risk, find that heightened ambition travels with creativity across the bipolar spectrum, including creativity in business tasks.
The claim
“People with bipolar disorder make better entrepreneurs.”
Not shown Ambition and creativity travel together across the bipolar spectrum. Nobody here measured whether ventures succeed.
- Study
- Two cross-sectional studies
- Sample
- 22 diagnosed, 221 students
- Peer review
- Yes
- Funding
- CIHR
Johnson SL, Murray G, Hou S, Staudenmaier PJ, Freeman MA, Michalak EE, CREST.BD. Creativity is linked to ambition across the bipolar spectrum. Journal of Affective Disorders 2015;178:160–164.Funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research planning grant; the funder had no role in the research. No conflicts declared.
What kind of paper this is
Two cross-sectional studies. Study One: 22 people diagnosed with bipolar disorder who identified as highly creative, measured on the WASSUP ambition scale and lifetime creative accomplishment. Study Two: 221 undergraduates measured on the WASSUP, the Hypomanic Personality Scale (mania risk) and a measure of creativity in business projects and tasks. Michael Freeman, whose later work is on entrepreneurs and mental health, is a co-author.
What it found
In the diagnosed sample, ambition was well above population norms and correlated with lifetime creative accomplishment. In the student sample, mania risk went with greater ambition and greater creativity, and ambition was itself directly related to creativity, in business tasks specifically. The authors read this as support for ambition as the mechanism the 2012 review was looking for.
What it did not find
Twenty-two people in Study One, self-identified as creative, so the first study describes a group that already succeeded. Study Two measures risk in students, not disorder in adults. Nothing here is longitudinal: it cannot say whether ambition leads to the work or the work to the ambition, and it cannot say what happens to the ambitious person who gets ill.
What you would change on Monday
Treat ambition as the asset and pace it, rather than treating it as a symptom and suppressing it. Concretely: the new venture gets a one-week sleep test before anyone else hears about it, and a second signature on money. That is not a brake on the ambition; it is the only thing that lets you keep it.
Where it sits in the tools
Corrections
None. To challenge a claim, email [email protected] with the specific line.
One paper, read for what it can carry. Not clinical advice; the editorial policy and medical disclaimer apply.