answer:There does seem to be a link between some forms of mental illness and creativity. Creativity is about seeing unconventional connections. Neurologists who study attention find that creativity tends to happen not when one is focused in on a problem (which is the way a “normal” brain tends to operate), but when the attention is allowed to roam freely into areas apparently unrelated to the problem. Some mental conditions make it difficult to apply the narrow focus that favors conventional solutions, but it could be that an attention that jumps around will stumble upon more interesting combinations of ideas. Also, a “normal” brain has a robust reality checking faculty that polices the thought process and disallows whatever doesn’t fit with what “should” be. This reality enforcer is weaker in some forms of mental illness. It’s weaker in the dreaming brain, too, which is why the reality distortion that occurs in dreams doesn’t seem strange while you’re dreaming, but seem obviously impossible once you’re awake. But dreams can be extremely creative as a result.