{"id":119256,"date":"2023-12-11T18:42:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T22:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=119256"},"modified":"2023-12-14T10:42:47","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T14:42:47","slug":"dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/","title":{"rendered":"Dopamine Levels and Schizophrenia: Creativity to the Extreme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How are dopamine levels and schizophrenia connected? What happens when you have too much dopamine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dopamine levels and schizophrenia are connected because higher dopamine increases creativity, and when taken to the extreme this can mean making creative associations between things that aren\u2019t really related, feeding delusions. To understand how this happens, you need to take a look at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-does-dopamine-work\/\">how dopamine works<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s investigate the role of dopamine in schizophrenia and when too much creativity is a bad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-dopamine-affects-creativity\">How Dopamine Affects Creativity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dopamine levels and schizophrenia are related because of creativity. Dopamine drives creativity\u2014it motivates you to think about exciting possibilities for the future and how you could turn those possibilities into reality. Strong motivation toward a particular goal <strong>causes you to make connections between things that seem unrelated and come up with innovative new ideas\u2014<\/strong>in other words, to be creative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, say you\u2019re getting frustrated trying to remove stubborn adhesive residue. You might remember that citric acid can dissolve glue (as in Goo Gone). From there, you can connect the ideas of \u201ccitric acid,\u201d \u201clemon juice,\u201d and \u201cadhesive remover,\u201d and realize that you can use lemon juice to clean up the sticky residue.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-dopamine-creativity-and-mental-health\">Dopamine, Creativity, and Mental Health<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Although dopamine has the positive effect of driving creativity, <strong>it\u2019s possible to have too much<\/strong><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><strong>dopamine\u2014to be <\/strong><strong><em>too <\/em><\/strong><strong>creative and start <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-connections\/\">making connections<\/a> between ideas that really are unrelated. <\/strong>This is a common feature of mental illnesses like schizophrenia and paranoia, where someone might imagine some massive conspiracy because they\u2019re inventing connections between unconnected events.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Some psychologists believe that conspiracy theories aren\u2019t just random products of a brain with too much creativity and dopamine, but that they serve as <a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/150922\/pioneer-paranoia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a self-soothing anxiety response<\/a>. If there\u2019s a group secretly orchestrating events (for instance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20170809-the-accidental-invention-of-the-illuminati-conspiracy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Illuminati are popular scapegoats<\/a>), that means <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20180124-the-enduring-appeal-of-conspiracy-theories\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nothing is ever truly random<\/a>; therefore, any future disaster can be predicted and prepared for. While belief in a global, nearly omnipotent group like the Illuminati might seem terrifying, some people find comfort in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/europe\/bilderberg-group-conspiracy-theories-secret-societies-new-world-order-alex-jones-a8377171.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">having a tangible enemy to fight<\/a> instead of thinking they\u2019re at the mercy of chance.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This happens because dopamine is responsible for what psychologists call<em> salience<\/em>, which means how relevant something seems to you, personally. <strong>When your dopamine activity is too high, things can feel relevant to you when they actually aren\u2019t.<\/strong> This could be as mundane as assuming that a coworker\u2019s bad mood is a result of something you did, or as unusual as believing that a popular song is secretly about you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Dopamine\u2019s Effects on Salience and Psychosis<\/strong><br><br>While some experts agree that dopamine is connected to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthline.com\/health\/schizophrenia\/schizophrenia-and-dopamine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mental illnesses such as schizophrenia<\/a>, they add that not everyone with high dopamine levels develops psychotic symptoms, and treating patients for high dopamine levels doesn\u2019t cure all the symptoms of schizophrenia. These researchers believe that elevated dopamine in <em>specific areas <\/em>of the brain causes those psychotic symptoms, that imbalances of other neurotransmitters must be involved, or both.&nbsp;<br><br>Some studies have found that <em>aberrant salience<\/em> (thinking things are relevant when they aren\u2019t) can be the result of heightened dopamine levels, and it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/annals-general-psychiatry.biomedcentral.com\/articles\/10.1186\/s12991-022-00383-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">an early indicator of psychosis<\/a>. Mental health professionals can use evidence of aberrant salience to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/diagnosing-mental-illness\/\">diagnose mental illnesses<\/a> like schizophrenia before more serious symptoms emerge. However, this connection only applies in severe cases, such as the person who believes that popular songs are really about them. The other example from above\u2014thinking people are upset with you when they really aren\u2019t\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.com\/condition\/anxiety\/misinterpreting-friendships-anxiety\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">is common<\/a> and usually isn\u2019t a sign of mental illness.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How are dopamine levels and schizophrenia connected? What happens when you have too much dopamine? Dopamine levels and schizophrenia are connected because higher dopamine increases creativity, and when taken to the extreme this can mean making creative associations between things that aren\u2019t really related, feeding delusions. To understand how this happens, you need to take a look at how dopamine works. Let\u2019s investigate the role of dopamine in schizophrenia and when too much creativity is a bad thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":119303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,160],"tags":[1345],"class_list":["post-119256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-science","tag-the-molecule-of-more","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dopamine Levels and Schizophrenia: Creativity to the Extreme - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the connection between dopamine levels and schizophrenia? Can dopamine feed mental illness? Here&#039;s the facts about too much dopamine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dopamine Levels and Schizophrenia: Creativity to the Extreme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is the connection between dopamine levels and schizophrenia? Can dopamine feed mental illness? Here&#039;s the facts about too much dopamine.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-11T22:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-14T14:42:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/woman-having-an-identity-crisis.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Becca King\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Becca King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Becca King\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a98d1f6c931222c11a5c5d087f3376fe\"},\"headline\":\"Dopamine Levels and Schizophrenia: Creativity to the Extreme\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-11T22:42:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-14T14:42:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/\"},\"wordCount\":617,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/woman-having-an-identity-crisis.png\",\"keywords\":[\"The Molecule of More\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/\",\"name\":\"Dopamine Levels and Schizophrenia: Creativity to the Extreme - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dopamine-levels-and-schizophrenia\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/woman-having-an-identity-crisis.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-11T22:42:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-14T14:42:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is the connection between dopamine levels and schizophrenia? 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