Creativity and creative problem-solving can be that extra something that distinguishes sheer talent and hard work from booming success.

There are a lot of talented young artists, but there is only one Lady Gaga. It’s not because she is more talented or more beautiful. It’s not because she sings or dances better and it’s not because she’s interesting, in her weird Gaga way. It’s because she has that extra touch of creativity in building her business empire.

In fact, Lady Gaga was crowned at first place in the Top 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2010 by Fast Company. Some other creative minds that impress with their idiosyncratic approach to business and entrepreneurship are Ryan Murphy (the creator and producer of Glee), Eddy Cue (VP of Internet Services at Apple), Jay Z (artist and founder of Roc Nation), Haiping Zhao (Senior software engineer at Facebook) and James Cameron (filmmaker).

So what are some things that these folks have in common?

1. Higher than average intelligence

Research with creative people reaches a definite conclusion: smarter individuals tend to be more creative. This doesn’t mean you have to be a genius. The average college graduate has an IQ of 120 (the average for the general population is 100), which seems to be ‘just enough’ to nurture creativity in any field of work. Interestingly, people with extremely high IQ are not any more creative¹.

2. Substantial general knowledge and diverse interests

Creative souls usually have a broad knowledge base. To be an expert in only one field  is great for an academic or a researcher, but it’s not optimal for creativity. For example, knowing something about marketing, psychology, and finance in addition to your field of expertise is much more beneficial for any venture.

Creative people also appear to have various interests. They combine ideas from different fields fluently. Their though is flexible in finding connections between fields, problems and solutions. They often use metaphors and mental images to express their ideas².

3. Openness to experience

Creative minds are hardly rigid and conventional. On the contrary, they accept new ideas, even ‘weird’ ones. They tend to be uninhibited about their fantasies and feelings³ and make them come to life. They love to challenge assumptions, break established rules and find order in the chaos.

Creative people often have more unusual experiences (vivid dreams, daydreaming, mystical experiences)⁴.

4. Enjoy symbolism

Creative individuals appreciate symbolism and often use it to express their ideas, explore possibilities and talk about concepts (just look at some Jay Z, Madonna or Lady Gaga lyrics). Creative minds are interested in the truth and always look for it. They appreciate beauty and are not as concerned about recognition and success (although it often follows them wherever they go). Their creative work is an end in itself¹.

5. Value independence and complexity

Rigid work routine and inflexible boundaries are torture for the creative mind. These people value independence and prefer complexity, that’s why they may often feel constricted and oppressed in their work and might therefore challenge the rules. Although they usually are nonconformists in their work, they are not usually bizarre personalities.

It’s not their degree or diploma. It’s not the particular kind of therapy they practice. It’s all about their personality.

Research¹ suggest that a therapist’s theoretical knowledge and approach have very little effect on the success of therapy. In reality, most therapists become eclectic in their work² choosing different methods that best reflect their own personality.

So what makes a gifted therapist?

A study³ of the most effective therapists found that they all shared similar characteristics:

• They are all enthusiastic learners, who not only wish to know their clients really well, but constantly read new literature in the field and are familiar with the latest techniques and studies.
• They draw on their experience with similar problems. Effective therapists are not just an omnipresence, covered in mystique, but human beings who’ve had problems and doubts, just like anyone else. A good therapist is not afraid to acknowledge that and draw from these personal feelings in order to understand the client better.
• They value complexity and ambiguity. Successful therapists understand that not everything in the human realm follows the linear way of logic. They have to be able to understand and appreciate the complexity and ambiguity of subjective emotional experiences in order to provide adequate help.
• They are emotionally open. This involves being able to accept any feelings that the client brings up as well as being able to recognize and share one’s own emotional reactions. It is a myth that therapists never get annoyed, bored, frustrated or angry. They do, but they are in touch with these feelings, deal with them constructively and communicate them effectively.
• They are mentally healthy and mature. Again, let me bust the myth that therapists never experience emotional distress and subjective discomfort. Of course they do! The difference with most people comes with the way therapists process their problems and take care of their psychological well-being.
• They nurture their own emotional well-being. How can you take care of anyone else, if you are broken yourself? How can you meet other people’s emotional needs, if you have needs that have not been met? It would not work and good therapists realize this and take care of their own emotional well-being first, before they can be useful to anyone else.
• They realize that their emotional health affects their work. The opposite is naive and makes one a dangerous therapists – one that I would never want to visit.
• They have strong social skills. I don’t really need to explain that the profession of a therapist requires people skill, right. Social skills are not only needed to communicate with clients, but also institutions, physicians and family members.
• They cultivate a working alliance, because they know that, above all, it is the unique therapeutic relationship with the client that leads to healing.

1. Yalom, I. & Leszcz, M. (2005). The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (5th edition). Basic Books: New York. 2.Kopta, S. M., et al. (1999). Individual Psychotherapy outcome and process research. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 441-469. 3. Jennings, L. & Skovholt, T. M. (1999). The cognitive, emotional and relational characteristics of master therapists. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46(1), 3-11.

Learn more about your attitude towards time, temptation and goals in life.

What is Time Perspective?

Time perspective is a fairly new concept in Psychology and refers to the study of how we divide experiences into different time frames. Time perspective  is used automatically, without our awareness and yet it greatly influences our decisions. Would you want to be in the dark and have that unconscious time bias control you, or would you want to reclaim awareness of this process and use it to your best advantage? If you want to make it work for you, keep on reading.

How do you handle temptation?

We are constantly bombarded by temptation and need to make different decisions that are governed by our time perspective: Go to the office or call in sick? Study now, or go out with friends? Have a burger, or stick to my diet? Have another drink before I leave the party or get in my car now? Give up because it’s too hard, or endure a little longer? Give in to temptation or delay gratification?

Being able to resist temptation and impulsive urges, or impulse control, is an essential theme in Psychology. One of the first scientists to tackle this concept was Walter Mischel, whose famous Marshmallow study tested impulse control in pre-schoolers. Years later he revisited the same kids in their late teens and noticed dramatic differences between those who had low and high impulse control (see video below).

Recently, psychologist Philip Zimbardo repeated the same study to look at impulse control through the Time Perspective paradox (see video below).

Would you have waited for the doubled reward, or would you have eaten the marshmallow? You answer provides powerful insights about your attitudes towards time and your ability to resist temptation.

What are the different Time Perspective profiles?

Based on differences in these attitudes, there are three main time orientations: Past, Present and Future. These can be further divided, depending on the person’s emotional focus: is the focus on the good, positive and pleasurable, or on the negative and tragic side of things. Only future-oriented people don’t seem to have a fatalistic side (thy are either future goal-oriented or future transcendental). Each individual can score low, moderate or high in each of this categories and this gives a complete profile of your personal time perspective. The Zimbardo Time Perspective test will tell you more about your own time perspective. It took almost twenty years to collect enough empirical data for this test. A statistical factor analysis of people’s responses identified 6 Time Perspective Factors.

Past-Oriented People

All past-oriented individuals use past experience as a baseline to which new experiences are compared. Their past is where you find family traditions, cultural and nationalist values, but also a place that hides trauma, shame or guilt.  Such memories might drive people to depression or aggression, if they seek revenge or retaliation. Usually, past-oriented people resist change, look for the familiar and are not creative or innovative.

Past Positive

Past Positive people tend to recall the positive experiences from their past. They are usually friendly and happy, and have a positive self-esteem. They are moderate in energy and creativity, and low in depression, anxiety and aggression.

Past Negative

Past Negative people remember the traumatic and negative experiences from the past and tend to overgeneralize those for their entire life. They spend a  lot of time thinking and reliving the bad memories from the past and that prevents them from enjoying themselves in the present. Not surprisingly, this makes them score very high in anxiety, depression and aggression.

Present-Oriented People

Present-oriented people live in the the present moment and don’t bother to linger in the past or worry too much about the future. They seek sensation and new experiences. Thus, they are more likely to engage in risky behavior, explore novelty and improvise. They are usually creative individuals, who focus on the process of any activity (not the result). They tend to have a lot of fun, but also  get in dangerous situations. They are more likely to do extreme sports, speed or race. Among them, we find more smokers, over-eaters and addicts. They are more likely to drive under the influence, not wear seat-belts, gamble, get in credit card debt and have lower grades in school.

Present Hedonist

Present Hedonist people focus on the pleasure of the moment, trying to live their lives as fully as possible. They score very high in novelty and sensation seeking. They are creative and energetic, but also have high levels of aggression that they are unable to control. Typically, they score low in conscientiousness, emotional stability, impulse control and ego control, and prefer to experiment with experiences and situations.

Present Fatalist

Present Fatalist people simply do not see a bright future. They often believe fate has predetermined their life and nothing they do can make a difference, so they choose to live for the moment. They score high in aggression, anxiety and depression, because they often perceive themselves as helpless and view life as unfair. They score very low in self-esteem, happiness, emotional stability, energy, conscientiousness and show no concerns for the future.

Future-Oriented People

These individuals have goals and plans that take priority to any momentary sensation and temptation. They have a clear idea of where they want to get in life and spend the present working towards achieving their goals.

Future goal-oriented

This is the group with the highest longevity and conscientiousness. They also have high energy, impulse control and ego control. They score low in sensation seeking, aggression and depression. They are cautious (more likely to visit doctors for check-ups) and take care of their health, which leads to longer life. They often exercise probability thinking – predicting and analyzing different scenarios – in attempt to come up with the most effective solution. They are achievement-oriented, have expectations for the future and hope for change. When faced with temptations, they tend to do a cost-benefit analysis and if they determine the temptation is moving them away from their goals, they simply ignore it.They tend to have higher grades in school and care about environmental sustainability, as they look into the future. They are reliable and trustworthy, because of their high conscientiousness level.

On the negative side, these individuals tend to work hard, often too hard, and get anxious or excessively worried, if they think they are failing. Working to much and having too little fun (which might be viewed as a distraction) can make them socially isolated and deprived of an adequate support group.

Future Transcendental

These people are rarely seen in our modern culture. They are focused on a future that transcends life on earth and live according to a doctrine, so they can achieve what they want in the afterlife (usually within a religious doctrine).

Each of these time perspective factors has some positive and some negative aspects. When we begin to recognize them in ourselves we can begin a gradual shift towards the optimal healthy time perspective.

How do you usually make a decision? Do you consider experience with a similar situation in the past? Do you think of future consequences, or just focus on the present moment?

Your response can tell a lot about you and your particular time perspective.

Famous psychologist Philip Zimbardo discusses the Psychology of Time in his book The Time Paradox (co authored with John Boyd). Their extensive research revealed three main categories of time orientation that play an important role in the quality of your life, relationships and profession.

Time perspective can affect the way we feel, think and act in different situations, without even realizing it. It is a deeply rooted unconscious process, that is not always beneficial or healthy. The good news is that once we become aware of our time perspective, we can begin to change it. Unlike temperament, time perspective is not inborn, but something we develop throughout life. If we make a conscious attempt to change our individual attitude towards time, we can shift our time perspective to achieve balance.

Whenever we make a decision, we are basing it on some mental baseline. This mental baseline varies among people.

Past-oriented

Some tend to recall events from their past: when has that happened before, what did I do, how did it work out, what did my parents/teachers told me about that? These are Past-oriented people. Typically, they are having a hard time letting go of the past. They cherish memories and memorabilia. They hold on to old pictures, diaries, grade-books, a first date movie ticket and so on. They are often family people and nationalists, who value their roots and history.

Present-oriented

Others focus on the immediate situation and stimulation: I like this, I feel like it and I’m going for it; the time is now. These are Present-oriented people, who follow their impulses, live for the moment and don’t spend much time thinking about the past, or the future. They rarely plan ahead, rarely worry about the future and don’t obsess about the past.

Future-oriented

Yet others think primarily of their long-term goals, plans and expectations before making a decision: what will the consequences be, is this going to help me achieve my goals? These are Future-oriented people. Typically, they are ambitious and like to plan ahead. Goals are very important to them and they can resist temptations and ignore distractions that get in their way to success.

Take the test

You can take the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory to find out more about your own time perspective and join me again when we discuss the specific Time Perspective Personality Types.

Image: Toni Verdu Carbo

The Five Factor Theory was first introduced by McCrae and Costa (1984) and is based on the assumption that personality is relatively stable in adulthood. Generally, the traits that we show at the age of 30 would remain essentially unchanged into old age. (McCrae & Costa, Personality in Adulthood) Therefore, assessing personality based on the core traits what will not change through adult life seemed like a reliable method. There have been a lot of multi-cultural, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies throughout the past two decades. All of this research has confirmed the reliability and validity in the NEO Personality Inventory, or NEO-PI (Costa & McCrae, 1985, 1989a) and has postulated there are indeed universal personality traits that characterize people all over the world.

Based on this extensive research and years of observing and interviewing people, McCrae and Costa identified the five core traits what describe a personality: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness (to experience), Agreeableness and Consciousness. These are the basic dispositions that endure through adulthood and shape our behavior and lives.

Neuroticism
Calm – Worrying
Even-tempered – Temperamental
Self-satisfied – Self-pitying
Comfortable – Self-conscious
Unemotional – Emotional
Hardy – Vulnerable

Extraversion
Reserved – Affectionate
Loner – Joiner
Quiet – Talkative
Passive – Active
Sober – Fun-loving
Unfeeling – Passionate

Openness to Experience

Down-to-earth – Imaginative
Uncreative – Creative
Conventional – Original
Prefer routine – Prefer variety
Uncurious – Curious
Conservative – Liberal

Agreeableness                                           Conscientiousness

Ruthless – Softhearted                                 Negligent – Conscientious
Suspicious – Trusting                                   Lazy – Hardworking
Stingy – Generous                                        Disorganized -Well-organized
Antagonistic – Acquiescent                        Late – Punctual
Critical – Lenient                                          Aimless – Ambitious
Irritable – Good-natured                             Quitting – Persevering

Axis II in DSM-IV versus the Five Factor Model

While it is true that both Axis II in DSM-IV and the Five Factor Model measure similar constructs, the main focus being one’s personality, they tend to investigate different aspects of personality. The use of DSM-IV and Axis II implicates the diagnosis of a particular personality disorder. Axis II has no interest in studying healthy individuals. Its main focus is identifying the real rigid traits that do not allow ‘normal’ functioning in life. DSM-IV, as a whole, provides the tools and the perspective required to diagnose psychological disorders, but it is not adapted to describing the wide spectrum of traits and qualities of a ‘healthy personality’.

The Five Factor Model, on the other hand, attempts to recognize and analyze all of the major traits that build up a person. This model is equally interested in studying healthy individuals as well as personality disorders (which is by no means the case with DSM-IV).

Axis II in DSM-IV provides a very detailed description of the disorders and informs abut their specific coding. The specific checkpoints and guidance make a diagnosis easier and, allegedly, more accurate.

The Five Factor model certainly has many advantages, as it is the one inventory that provides a full, very specific and realistic description of a personality, with all its nuances. Based on this description of traits, a lot can be effectively predicted about the behavior of the individual. The Five Factor Model is not limited to psychopathology, but investigates the whole continuum of a trait and so, sees subjects in every part of the belt curve. As the model is very precise in describing the big five traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extaversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism), it can be of great help in therapeutic setting, revealing the areas that need ‘improvement’. After all, this is the most important part of any helping profession – how exactly do we help the individual? Not to underestimate, the Five Factor Model has an enormous body or research behind it, which has proven it is both a valid and reliable technique.

Many studies have focused on investigating the physiological characteristics and the neurobiology of borderline patients in attempt to relate these symptoms with the purely psychological characteristics.

A study with 30 young women with Borderline personality disorder that used structural magnetic resonance imaging (3D-MRI) showed that the borderline patients had significantly smaller hippocampus (-17%) and a smaller right parietal cortex (-11%) than the control group. This significantly leftward asymmetry in borderline patients was associated with stronger psychotic symptoms and some signs of schizoid personality traits while the smaller hippocampal size was related to trauma-related clinical symptoms and neuropsychological deficits (Irlea E, 2005).

Another study of 21 female borderline patients and a similar group of healthy control subjects took magnetic resonance imaging volumetric measurements of subjects’ hippocampus, amygdala, temporal lobes and prosencephalon. The results showed that patients with BPD had approximately 16% smaller hippocampus and about 8% smaller volumes of the amygdala (Driessen M, 2000).

Studies show that suicide victims, that are often borderline personality patients, have certain neurobiological abnormalities and hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) (Lopez JF, 1997). Also, it has been discussed that severe anxiety associated with elevated corticotrophin-releasing factor is related to suicidal tendencies and depression (Fawcett J, 1997) that are traits of Borderline personality disorder.

Many studies have investigated the childhood experiences of patients with BPD and have revealed that physical and sexual abuse, early separation, inconsistent treatment of a caretaker, and neglect are all part of the etiology of BPD.

A study of Mary C. Zanarini and others was determined to investigate pathological childhood experience in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder and compare the results to those of patients suffering other Personality Disorders. In this study, out of the 358 patients with BPD, 91% reported having been abused (emotionally, sexually or physically) and 92% reported neglect before the age of 18.

More specifically, between 10% and 73% of borderline patients reported having been physically abused by either caretaker or another adult.

Another 16% to 71% reported having been sexually abused, usually by noncaretaker (Zanarini M., 1997). Since such great percentage of patients meeting the criteria for BPD have also been abused, it may be hypothesized that they also suffer some chronic form of posttraumatic stress disorder (Herman J. L., 1987). It was also revealed that it was much more common for BPD patients to report some type of abuse in childhood than patients with other Personality disorders.

Probably the most striking difference in the study between Borderline patients and other Personality disorder patients was observed when sexual abuse was considered.

61.5% of borderline patients reported sexual abuse versus 32.1% of patient suffering other personality disorders. However, it was observed that sexual abuse did not occur isolated from other forms of abuse or neglect. On the contrary, it was just another part of an already disrupted family atmosphere of chaos where series of traumatic events were part of the child’s everyday life (Zanarini M., 1997).

As a result of the studies of Borderline patients, four variables were clearly distinguished as correlated with BPD diagnosis: female gender, male noncaretaker sexual abuse, male caretaker’s neglect and denial of a patient’s feelings, and female caretaker’s inconsistent treatment (Zanarini M., 1997).

The fact that most individuals with Borderline diagnoses are women is probably related to the fact that most victims of sexual abuse as children are females. Therefore, there must be some correlation between such stress provoking experiences in early childhood and Borderline Personality adults that is imbedded in stress and neurotransmitter dysregulation (Halgin R., Whitbourne S., 2003).

Borderline Personality Disorder is identified in Cluster B of Axis II of the Multiaxial system. As all personality disorders, it is characterized as a pervasive and inflexible pattern of inner experiences and behavior that cause distress and certain impairment in a person’s life (DSM-IV-R).

Being a mental illness, BPD implies instability in moods, self-image, and behavior, as well as in interpersonal relationships. People suffering from BPD have a hard time regulating their emotions and often have to deal with their impaired sense of self-identity (Linehan M, 2006). Frequently, BPD involves intense outbursts of anger, depression and anxiety that can last for only hours, or a day (Zanarini MC, 1998).

There is a hypothesis that BPD is a trauma-related disorder or a variant of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A research indicated that people with BPD had significantly higher rates of PTSD when compared to subjects suffering other Personality Disorders (25% versus 13.0%) (Golier J, 2003).

People with BPD have critically unstable patterns of social relationships. This includes intense attachments and attitudes towards friends, family or loved ones that can change rapidly. Strong feelings of love and admiration can be suddenly replaced by anger or dislike. These intense emotional reactions in daily life are out of proportion and often may cause conflicts. Also, people with BPD tend to be extremely sensitive to rejection and separation, reacting with distress, outbursts of anger, episodes of anxiety, depression, and feelings of helplessness, worthlessness, suicide threats and attempts (Golier J, 2003). In addition, subjects with BPD may be at a greater risk of exposure to new traumas, substance abuse and risky behaviors due to their instability and impulsivity (Golier J, 2003).

Research shows that BPD is affecting up to two percent of adults in the United Stated (approximately 5.8 to 8.7 million Americans, mostly young women) (Swartz M, 1990). Since self-harm is very common in borderline patients (cutting, burning, suicide attempts), up to nine percent of subjects suffering BPD ultimately kill themselves (Linehan M, 2006). Patients of BPD stand for about 20% of psychiatric hospitalizations (Zanarini MC, Frankenburg FR. Treatment histories of borderline inpatients. Comprehensive Psychiatry, in press).