The dose makes the poison – how dopamine receptors contribute to creativity, and mental illness

A study released this past May by PLoS ONE: “Thinking Outside a Less Intact Box: Thalamic Dopamine D2 Receptor Densities Are Negatively Related to Psychometric Creativity in Healthy Individuals,” group of researchers in Sweden found that people with slightly decreased dopamine receptors were more creative than average people. At the same time, it’s been previously shown that people with Schizophrenia and other psychotic diseases have severely decreased dopamine receptors.

It’s amazing how often the case is that a little bit of a genetic trait is good, but too much of it can be dangerous or even deadly: just look at sickle cell anemia and malaria resistance: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/sickle-cell-and-malaria.html