Comedians have ‘high levels of psychotic traits’ .... Research

 

Some comedians may use performance as a form of self-medication, say researchers

Comedians have personality types linked with psychosis, like many other creative types, which might explain why they can entertain, researchers claim.

They score highly on characteristics that in extreme cases are associated with mental illness, a study by Oxford University researchers suggests.
Unusually, they have high levels of both introversion and extroversion.
The team says the creative elements needed for humour are similar to traits seen in people with psychosis.
The idea that creativity in art and science is connected with mental health problems has long captured the public imagination.
However, there has been little research on whether comedians have some of the traits - in a healthy form - associated with psychosis (delusions or hallucinations that can be present in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder).
Unusually introverted Researchers from the University of Oxford and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust studied 523 comedians (404 men and 119 women) from the UK, US and Australia.
The comedians were asked to complete an online questionnaire designed to measure psychotic traits in healthy people.
The four aspects measured were:

• Unusual experiences (belief in telepathy and paranormal events)
• Cognitive disorganisation (distractibility and difficulty in focusing thoughts)
• Introvertive anhedonia (reduced ability to feel social and physical pleasure, including an avoidance of intimacy)
• Impulsive non-conformity (tendency towards impulsive, antisocial behaviour).

The questionnaire was also completed by 364 actors - another profession used to performing - as a control group, and by a group of 831 people who worked in non-creative areas.
The researchers found that comedians scored significantly higher on all four types of psychotic personality traits than the general group, with particularly high scores for both extroverted and introverted personality traits.
The actors scored higher than the general group on three types - but not on introverted the personality aspect.
The researchers believe this unusual personality structure may help explain the ability of comedians to entertain.
Thinking 'outside box'

Professor Gordon Claridge, of the University of Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology, said: "The creative elements needed to produce humour are strikingly similar to those characterising the cognitive style of people with psychosis - both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder."
He said although schizophrenic psychosis itself could be detrimental to humour, in a lesser form it could increase people's ability to associate odd or unusual things or to think "outside the box".
Manic thinking, which is found in those with bipolar disorder, may help people combine ideas to form new, original and humorous connections, he added.
Prof Claridge told BBC News: "Comedians tend to be slightly withdrawn, introverted people who may not always want to socialise, and their comedy is almost an outlet for that. It's a kind of self-medication."
Dr James MacCabe, of the Institute of Psychiatry, at King's College, London, said: "Psychosis is not a problem with personality, it's a more severe disorder than that.
"People with psychosis and schizophrenia have a very impaired ability to appreciate humorous material.
"This study tells us some interesting things about the differences between comedians and actors but not about the link with psychosis."
Paul Jenkins, CEO of the charity Rethink Mental Illness said these were interesting findings, but we must guard against the "mad creative genius stereotype".
"Mental illnesses like schizophrenia can affect anyone, whether they are creative or not. Our knowledge and understanding of mental illness still lags far behind our understanding of physical illnesses, and what we really need is much more research in this area."

The research is published in The British Journal of Psychiatry.

BBC

Iran to hang condemned man for SECOND time

Death row drug offender Alireza M was found to be still breathing in prison morgue a day after being hanged for 12 minutes

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A death row prisoner is to be hanged again after officials botched his execution.
Alireza M, 37, was certified dead after being hanged for 12 minutes and taken to the prison morgue.
But when his family went to collect his body for burial a day later, they discovered he was still breathing.
A relative said: “When we went to the coroner’s office we found him alive again which made his two ­daughters very happy.”
Alireza, who was convicted of drug crimes, is under armed guard in a hospital close to the jail where he was being held in Bojnourd, northeast Iran.
But the country’s judiciary said his reprieve would be brief.
An official said: “The verdict was the death penalty and it will be carried out when he’s well.”
Iran is thought to have executed 560 people this year, including 200 since new “moderate” president Hassan Rouhani came to power in June.
Crimes punishable by death include theft and “un-Islamic behaviour”. Only China executes more people.

Mirror News

Teacher Sues Viagra Due to Permanent Erection

 
Belgium: Teacher Sues Viagra Due to Permanent Erection hardatit Antwerp| Ian Minxël, an 49-years old french teacher in a belgian high school, is intending a 3 million € lawsuit against the Pfizer pharmaceutical company, producer of Viagra, after spending the last nine months with a constantly erect penis. “They say it’s a pretty rare side effet, that they ‘feel sorry’ and ‘consider it tragic’, but I’m the one everyone sees as a pervert!” he tells our journalist. “My doctor says that my condition could be permanent, can you imagine that? I go in class to teach and all my students keep staring at my crotch all the time. It’s excessively embarassing!” Pfizer has emitted an short statement, saying: ” We want to reassure the population. M. Minxël is one in a thousand case only a few thousand people out of our millions of satisfied users have had similar problems. There is no need to fear using our product, it is excessively safe.” - See more at: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/belgium-teacher-sues-viagra-due-to-permanent-erection/#sthash.E0grSVeF.dpuf

INCREDIBLE: Astronaut Forgotten on Moon 40 Years Ago, Found Alive

NASA has confirmed that their latest space mission with russian help, achieved to recover Captain William Sly, an American astronaut forgotten on the moon by the Appollo-17 mission more than 40 years ago. “We sincerely feel horrible” explains NASA public relation secretary, Wenda Metternich. “It’s true that he always was so vapid and forgettable that it’s not entirely surprising that they forgot him there, but that no one noticed that he was missing in the forty years he was there, not even his wife or children… that’s unacceptable!” The poor man was abandonned with very little food and almost no equipment on the lunar ground, when the rest of the crew left to go back to Earth. He achieved to survive by recycling the water in his urine and by eating a mix of lunar rat meat and moondust, which ended up grinding his teeth to dust over the years. The worst thing seems to have been the numerous years of loneliness, as he spent most of his time playing solitaire and masturbating. The experience seems to have left important physical and psychological conséquences on the poor man, who will be hospitalized for a few days until more tests are done to evaluate his state.