Bipolar Today

An interesting study coming out of Princeton University shows a strong correlation between different spectra of mental disorders in the family and the interests among incoming students to university. The study queried 1,077 freshman about whether or not they planned to study in the humanities or in the sciences. They then asked whether or not people in their families suffered from certain mental disorders. The results were significant. Students planning to enter the humanities were twice as likely to have someone in their family with a mood disorder, while students planning to enter the humanities were three times as likely to have a sibling with some form of autism. The study was co-authored by Benjamin C. Campbell and Samuel S.-H. Wang.

Commentary

It’s worth thinking about what this study indicates, and Dr. Wang is careful not to draw too many immediate conclusions. However, there are two possibilities, both of which may contribute to this result. First, it may be that the environmental factors that go along with mood disorders make people more interested in people and how they work, while having someone with an autism spectrum disorder (especially Asperger’s) in the family may expose them to more detailed interests while young.

The other possibility is that, because both mood disorders and autism have heavily genetic origins, family members may have subclinical symptoms on mood and autism spectra that predispose them to creativity or to the accumulation of facts and detailed analysis. If this is the case, then it provides evidence that mood and autism spectra are wider than is generally thought, and that we should expect that high-functioning, subclinical people are more common than is normally believed in the families of those with mental disorders.

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