Vol. 19, n. 3/2025 Creativity and Madness (eds. C. Paolucci, S. Bartezzaghi, L. Lobaccaro & F.V. Alessi)

Submission deadline: June 30, 2025

 

In one of his last Bustine di Minerva, titled “We Are All Mad” (“Siamo tutti matti”, Eco 2016: 465), Umberto Eco reflects on the relationship between normality, madness, and creativity, suggesting that everyone harbors a seed of madness, which can erupt and manifest in a productive form known as creativity.

This idea has held a prominent place in Western culture since Ancient Greece (Dodds 1951; Guidorizzi 2010), and throughout different historical periods and cultural contexts, the connection between madness and creativity has strengthened, evolving into a correlation and, in some cases, even an implication (cf. Becker  2014; Wittwoker & Wittwoker 1963). Over the centuries, one of the most enduring myths of our time (Barthes 1957) has gradually taken shape: the idea of a reciprocal relationship between creativity—as a form of divergent thinking that deviates from the norm (see Bartezzaghi 2021)—and madness—as a departure from a rational normality (Foucault 1961).

Contemporary cultural discourse is filled with representations that reiterate and update this mythology across the many layers of our cultural encyclopedia (Eco 1984) and within the domains that shape its functioning. As a result, the figure of the “mad genius” has become a pervasive stereotype (cf. Paolucci 2017, 2020), spanning fields as diverse as sports, gastronomy, art, science, and psychology.

This kind of representation appears in various forms, such as movies exploring the theme (e.g., Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan or Joe Wright’s The Soloist), art exhibitions focused on the intersection of madness and creativity—often highlighting individual artists as emblematic of this connection (e.g., Ligabue, Van Gogh)—and biographies or public discussions about figures who have stood out despite, or perhaps precisely because of, their "abnormality" (e.g., Einstein, Maradona, Anthony Bourdain, Kanye West). Moreover, this mythology extends to political and journalistic narratives, where figures like Elon Musk are often portrayed as embodiments of the “mad”, even “dangerous”, genius.

Since Lombroso’s studies on Genius and Madness (1864), increasing efforts have been made to empirically justify this connection by linking both genius and madness to shared neurophysiological, genetic, or psychological roots. In this process, stereotypes originating in other cultural domains—both regarding madness and creativity—have been absorbed into scientific discourse, leading over time to a proliferation of positions that are often incompatible, if not outright contradictory. Moreover, studies based on different models and assumptions (Post 1994; Carson 2011; Kyaga 2014; Kaufman 2014) have sought to demonstrate how creativity overlaps with psychopathology without defining what creativity actually is, often uncritically assuming it to be a form of divergent thinking (Guilford 1950).

In some cases, psychopathologies and neurodivergences are attributed with the ability to foster inspiration and enhance divergent thinking. This has led to numerous retrospective diagnoses attempting to identify psychopathologies or neurodivergences in past geniuses—conditions that are now considered to have creative potential (Dell’Osso et al. 2023; Bogousslavsky & Boller 2005). While these approaches aim to reframe madness by emphasizing its productive aspects, they risk reducing artistic and intellectual achievements to mere psychopathological origins, with the results of strengthening the stereotype eve more. For instance, also the complexity of Wittgenstein’s thought has been reduced to his presumed Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis (Fitzgerald 2004).

Yet, both skeptical and favorable readings of the madness-genius relationship seem to be missing something. On one hand, statistical (Simonton 2019) and neuroscientific (Abraham 2024) data fail to establish a sufficiently robust correlation between the two phenomena. On the other, it is difficult to ignore that without psychopathological conditions and their associated experiences, some of the most astonishing and fascinating works in our cultural history might never have existed—works that have even, in some cases, expanded the very understanding of the pathological condition itself (Jaspers 1926).

Likewise, it is hard to deny the inherent creativity of delusional narratives and psychopathological language (Pennisi 1998; Cardella 2017; Pennisi et al. 2021; Bucca 2024; Lobaccaro 2024), as well as the creative dimension of patients’ artistic and expressive productions (Prinzhorn 1922; Andreoli 2009). Furthermore, it has been noted how expressive traits associated with certain psychopathological conditions closely resemble the expressive and cognitive forms of specific artistic and philosophical movements. This connection offers both insight into psychopathological conditions (Sass 1992) and a better understanding of why, at certain points in history, the public became fascinated by the works of deviant geniuses or deviants later seen as geniuses (Bedoni 2009).

Finally, it is crucial to consider other links between mental health and creativity that go beyond the mad genius stereotype, and which have tangible effects on improving the lives of individuals with psychiatric diagnoses. On the one hand, creativity-based treatments are proving useful to enhance patients’ psychological, health and neuro-cognitive condition (Alessi 2024; Levine & Levine 1998; Richard & Pelowski 2023). On the other, within a broadened and participatory approach to creativity, we can witness a significant rise in creative design processes involving individuals with mental disorders and neurodivergences. These include, for instance, spatial design (Vanolo 2024), the development of educational models, and the implementation of new technologies and multimedia environments (Cottini, Pascoletti, D’Agostini 2023; Thierry Giuliana 2024).

This Special Issue of RIFL, developed within the framework of the PRIN 2022 project SACre-D. Schizophrenia, Autism and the Myth of Creativity. An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Psychopathological Expression and its Digitalization, aims to explore the relationships between concepts related to the semantic field of creativity (e.g., genius, art, expression, intuition, talent, improvisation, spontaneity, association, divergent thinking, inspiration, invention) and those associated with the semantic field of madness (e.g., psychopathology, neurodivergence/neurodiversity, possession, insanity).

We encourage the submission of theoretical reflections or case analyses of an interdisciplinary nature or related to specific methodologies, such as semiotics, philosophy of language, psychopathology of expression, psychiatry, cognitive sciences, neuroscience, philosophy of psychiatry and psychology, artificial intelligence, sociology, and literary studies.

 

Possible themes of discussion and topics of interest (but not limited to):

• Theoretical reflections on the concept of creativity and the reasons why it may be linked to the characteristic traits of madness, with a particular focus on the deconstruction of this contemporary mythology.
• Examinations of theories relating creativity and madness (e.g. Lombroso, Freud, Jaspers, Jung, Pessoa, etc.).
• Examinations of historical stages and cultural phenomena that have reinforced the mad-genius connection.
• Psychological, cognitive, and neuroscientific research on the relationship between creativity and madness.
• Investigations into psychopathological expressive forms, both linguistic and non-linguistic.
• Analyses of cultural products that either reinforce or challenge the myth of the mad genius (e.g., films, exhibitions, biographies, novels, TV programs, etc.).
• Critical analyses of the connections, whether real or hypothesized, between the works of renowned figures and their psychopathological conditions (e.g., Artaud, Merini, Van Gogh, Nietzsche, Einstein, etc.).
• Examinations of psychopathological productions that have gained public appreciation and influenced culture (e.g. Art Brut movements, Schreber’s Memoirs, etc.).
• Examination and analysis of creativity-based therapies for mental disorders and psychopathologies (i.e. art therapy, theatrical therapy, body therapy, dance therapy etc.).
• Creative design and social inclusion in cases of mental disorders or psychopathologies.

 

We call for articles in Italian and English. All manuscripts must be accompanied by an abstract (max 250 words), a title and 5 keywords in English.

The manuscript must be prepared using the template at this link: http://www.rifl.unical.it/authortemplate/template_eng.doc.

All submissions must be prepared by the author for anonymous evaluation. The name, affiliation to an institution and title of the contribution should be indicated in a file different from that which contains the text. The contribution must be sent in electronic format .doc or .rtf to segreteria.rifl@gmail.com

 

Instructions for authors:

Maximum contribution length: 40000 characters (including spaces) for articles (including bibliography and endnotes).

 

Submission deadline: June 30, 2025

 

Publication: December 2025

 

 

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