The relationship of hypomania, creativity, and suicidal ideation in undergraduates.

Elevations in hypomanic symptoms have been linked to high levels of creativity, and clinicians assess hypomania as one means of identifying individuals most at risk for attempting suicide among individuals diagnosed with depression. However, potential relationships between hypomania, creativity (i.e., divergent thinking and creative achievement), and suicidal ideation in college students are seldom investigated. Participants (N = 94) completed the Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire, Hypomania Checklist-32, Creative Achievement Questionnaire, Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task, and a demographic questionnaire. Suicidal ideation was significantly correlated with divergent thinking and creative achievement; but neither the active/elated dimension nor the irritable/risk-taking dimension of hypomania was significantly correlated with suicidal ideation, divergent thinking, or creative achievement. Results suggest that those with high creative achievement in architectural design may experience the highest risk for significant suicidal ideation among the creative domains surveyed, with those in visual arts, creative writing, theater/film, and dance being at moderate risk for significant suicidal ideation. Future research should further investigate the relationship between creative achievement, divergent thinking, and suicidal ideation in colleges and universities that have specific graduate and undergraduate programs in the aforementioned creative domains.