The Molecule of More

CREATIVITY AND MADNESS

There may be chaos inside our heads that requires taming by the more
logical parts of the brain, but there is also treasure. Whether or not you
find  that  “shillings” improves Pooh’s poem, one  of the  cardinal rules of 
creative writing is  to  turn off  your inner censor when creating the  first 
draft. If you’re lucky, things will tumble out from your unconscious that
will resonate in the unconscious of your readers, and your story will
strike deep.
Here is  a  quotation from a  schizophrenic patient that  illustrates a 
more pathological tendency to “let things come.”

I got TV tooth, they call it. TV tooth is when they surprise

you and put needles in your skull, and they listen to you for

years if you know it or not. I didn’t know it. They have this

really fantastic, expensive equipment. They said to me, hey, we

can check your head for, uh, if a bump shows up bruising, and

the electricity is a little different across the top of your scalp, 

we’ll guarantee social security for that injury or on its own. It’s

like cerebral palsy.

In this situation the speaker is unable to hold anything back. As thoughts
come into his head, they are immediately translated into words with
little processing. Normally, we pick and choose the things we say. We
do  this  to  censor unacceptable or  illogical speech, but  also  to  finish one 
thought before we begin the next. A close reading of the quotation
makes it possible to get a general sense of what the speaker is saying,
but it’s hard.
With one thought rapidly taking the place of another, and a limited
ability to hold the thoughts back, expression becomes highly disorga-
nized. A  less  severe form of this  type of jumping around is  called tan-
gentiality, in which the speaker leaps from one thought to another, but
in a way that makes sense. For example, “I can’t wait to go to Ocean
City. They’ve got  the  best  margaritas there. I  have to  find  a  place to 
get  my  car  fixed this  afternoon. Where are  you  going for  lunch?” We 
often speak this way when we’re excited. Desire dopamine gets revved