Table 1.

Example studies supporting the dichotomous link between creativity and mental health.

No.	Sources	Approaches	Operational definition of creativity	Operational definition of well-being or mental health	Main findings
1	Shen et al. (33)	Creativity as a strategy	Solving remote associate problems	Well-being was measured using the psychological well-being scale	Showing a positive effect of creativity on well-being
2	Conner et al. (44)	Creativity as a strategy	Creative activity was measured in the daily diary	Well-being was assessed through an eight-item Flourishing Scale.	Everyday creativity as a means of cultivating positive psychological functioning.
3	Bujacz et al. (45)	Creativity as a strategy	Three creative tasks: (43) invent titles for a cartoon, (1) list different uses for a rubber band, or (2) improve the design of a table for individuals with impaired vision.	Well-being was measured through a three-item positive emotion scale, a two-item autonomy scale and a two-item task absorption scale.	Engagement in creative tasks promoted autonomous self-expression and brought more positive emotions than noncreative ones.
4	DirŽyte et al. (46)	Creativity as a strategy	A five-item self-reported creativity questionnaire and a scale on the attitude to creativity modified from the creative mindsets scale.	Well-being was measured using an eight-item Flourishing Scale, which includes the dimensions of relationships, self-esteem, purpose, and optimism	Self-reported creativity and attitudes to creativity are significant, positive predictors of flourishing.
5	Fink et al. (47)	Creativity as a strategy	Participants were required to generate as many and as different ways as possible to reappraise presented anger-eliciting situations in a manner that reduces their anger. Neural activity elicited by the generation task was compared with the activity by the alternative uses task.	Well-being was measured by the reduction of anger intensity.	Creative reappraisal is an effective strategy to regulate an ongoing negative emotional state.
6	Wu et al. (48)	Creativity as a strategy	A humorous reappraisal (a creative way) is compared to an ordinary reappraisal.	Well-being was measured by the reduction of negative emotion intensity induced by negative pictures.	Humorous reappraisal was more effective in downregulating negative emotions and upregulating positive emotions both in the short and long term, altogether with the brain-related activation of creative/insightful restructuring and insight experience.
7	Wu et al. (49)	Creativity as a strategy	A series of generated creative reappraisals for standardized negative pictures were rated and provided to participants. There were two control conditions: an ordinary reappraisal condition and an objective description condition.	Well-being was measured by the reduction of negative emotion intensity induced by negative pictures.	Creative reappraisal had a long-lasting effect in reducing negative affect, which also makes standardized negative pictures have a positive rating in emotion.
8	Rominger et al. (50)	Creativity as a strategy	Creatively generating positive reappraisals of adverse events. Meanwhile, a problem-oriented generation task and a de-emphasizing task were used as controls.	Well-being was measured by the reduction of anxiety and anger intensity induced by adverse events.	Creative reappraisal is a useful strategy in regulating the negative experience elicited by adverse events.
9	Wu et al. (51)	Creativity as a strategy	Participants were requested to generate reappraisals of negative stimuli and then evaluate the creativity (rated by experts)	Well-being was measured by the reduction of anxiety and anger intensity induced by adverse events.	Individual creativity and reappraisal appropriateness were significant predictors of the regulating effects of the reappraisal for negative pictures and that creativity was the most dominant predictor.
10	Yu et al. (52)	Creativity as a strategy	The metaphorical (high creativity rating) solutions to mental distress problems were compared with literal solutions or problem-restatement solutions.	There was no significant difference in the emotional valence ratings between the metaphorical and literal solutions, but they were significantly higher than the problem-restatement solutions	The metaphorical solution to mental distress problem is a highly creative and useful strategy in regulating negative emotion and improving mental health.
11	Hu et al. (53)	Creativity as a strategy	A metaphorical restructuring intervention is viewed as creative as opposed to a literal restructuring intervention or a no restructuring problem restating intervention.	Well-being is reflected in the alleviation effectiveness of mental distress problems.	The mental distress of the metaphorical restructuring group significantly decreased after the intervention. Furthermore, this group had greater insightfulness during the intervention, and this insightfulness could predict the reduction of negative affect after the intervention.
12	Tan et al. (54)	Creativity as a strategy	Creativity was measured by the participants' self-report (study 1) or receiving a creativity priming task and executing an alternative use task (study 2).	Self-reported subjective well-being was measured by the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience and Satisfaction with Life Scale.	The study shows a positive, cross-sectional relationship between creativity and subjective well-being after controlling the effect of self-perceived stress and demographics. After controlling the effect of self-perceived stress, individuals receiving the creativity priming reported higher subjective well-being scores than their counterparts.
13	Miller et al. (55)	Creativity as a disposition	Individuals' self-rated creativity was measured through the 21-item Creativity Domain Questionnaire-Revised.	Well-being is assessed using a self-report measures of depression and hypo/mania over the past week from 397 participants previously diagnosed with BD.	Those self-reporting clinically significant depressive symptoms had significantly lower creativity scores (particularly in the domains of the drama, interaction and math/science) than those in the hypo/mania and no current symptom groups.
14	Gostoli et al. (56)	Creativity as a disposition	Creativity Assessment Packet encompassing divergent thinking test and creative personality test were used to measure creativity.	The 84-item psychological well-being questionnaire was used to measure well-being, altogether with the Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego-Auto questionnaire to assess subclinical psychopathological symptoms.	Significant positive correlations between creativity and bipolar disorder vulnerability, especially hyperthymia, were observed. Creativity was poorly linked to psychological well-being subscales, except autonomy and personal growth.
15	Johnson et al. (27)	Creativity as a disposition	Creativity was determined through multiple measures, including the unusual use test (uniqueness), subjective creativity evaluation, and creative achievement questionnaire.	Well-being was also measured through multiple instruments, including the Beck Depression Inventory, Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale, Modified Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, and the Young Mania Rating Scale.	Persons with bipolar disorder demonstrate significantly more heterogeneity in creative accomplishment levels compared with those with no bipolar disorder.
16	McNeil and Clinic (57)	Creativity as a disposition	Creative ability was determined through the independent ratings of each participant's activities and accomplishments, together with the information on the questionnaires and from the creative product.	Well-being was mainly determined based on participants' records of the Btspebferg Hospital Psychiatric, Military Service, and Psychiatric Register of the Human Genetics Institute.	There is a significant, positive association between creative ability and mental illness.
17	Rybakowski and Klonowska (25)	Creativity as a disposition	The Revised Art Scale and the “inventiveness” part of the Berlin Intelligence Structure Test were adopted to measure creativity.	The Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences was used to estimate schizotypal. Well-being was established based on the aforementioned assessment and the medical diagnosis of bipolar disorder.	The bipolar patients obtained significantly higher scores on the BIS-total as well as on the verbal part of the test, showing higher scores on some creativity scales in bipolar patients compared with the healthy.
18	Santosa et al. (58)	Creativity as a disposition	Creativity was measured through four instruments: the Barron–Welsh Art Scale (BWAS-Total, and two subscales, BWAS-Dislike and BWAS-Like), the Adjective Check List Creative Personality Scale (ACL-CPS), and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking – Figural (TTCT-F) and Verbal (TTCT-V) versions	Well-being was determined by whether the participant had suffered from euthymic bipolar (BP) or unipolar major depressive disorder (MDD).	Results showed BP and creative discipline controls (CC) compared to healthy controls scored significantly higher on BWAS-Total and BWAS-Dislike. The CC compared to MDD scored significantly higher on TTCT-F.
19	Taylor et al. (59)	Creativity as a disposition	Creativity was measured through self-reported engagement in productive creative activity.	Well-being was determined based on multiple criteria: persons who had received a clinical diagnosis of self-reporting bipolar disorder, confirmed by the Mood Disorders Questionnaire based on DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for BD	There is a positive association between creativity and bipolar disorder.