Abstract
In a recent article in this journal, Weisberg (1994) examined the hypothesis that creative individuals suffering from manic-depressive disease not only are more productive during hypomanic phases (which they commonly are) but also produce works of higher quality than during normal or depressed periods As his test case, he took the composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856), who suffered from a bipolar affective disorder (Jamison, 1993, Ostwald, 1985, Slater & Meyer, 1959) and who left extensive records of his mood swings in letters and diaries A plot of the number of Schumann's compositions by year of completion (Weisberg's Fig 1) reveals two periods of particularly intense activity the years 1840 and 1849-1851, especially 1849 According to Slater and Meyer (1959), the years 1840, 1849, and 1851 coincide with hypomanic periods in Schumann's life Years classified as mostly depressive periods, by contrast, show very low productivity
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