Salvador Dali out for a stroll with his pet anteater.

BBC News has an article comparing creativity and schizophrenia, drawing a conclusion they are essentially the result of the same problem.

Brain scans reveal striking similarities in the thought pathways of highly creative people and those with schizophrenia.

Both groups lack important receptors used to filter and direct thought.

It could be this uninhibited processing that allows creative people to "think outside the box", say experts from Sweden's Karolinska Institute.

In some people, it leads to mental illness.

But rather than a clear division, experts suspect a continuum, with some people having psychotic traits but few negative symptoms.

I know a number of creative people that suffer from bipolar disorder, some bordering on schizophrenia, so these findings unfortunately make sense.

It's also no secret that some of history's greatest creative minds have had mental disorders.

Associate Professor Fredrik Ullen believes his findings could help explain why.

He looked at the brain's dopamine (D2) receptor genes which experts believe govern divergent thought.

He found highly creative people who did well on tests of divergent thought had a lower than expected density of D2 receptors in the thalamus - as do people with schizophrenia.

The thalamus serves as a relay centre, filtering information before it reaches areas of the cortex, which is responsible, amongst other things, for cognition and reasoning.

The professor believes this is what's behind the "creative spark." It's essentially a barrage of unfiltered information running rampant through the mind.

This explains why creative people can see connections in order to solve problems that ordinary people miss.

UK psychologist and member of the British Psychological Society Mark Millard said the overlap with mental illness might explain the motivation and determination creative people share.

"Creativity is uncomfortable. It is their dissatisfaction with the present that drives them on to make changes.

"Creative people, like those with psychotic illnesses, tend to see the world differently to most. It's like looking at a shattered mirror. They see the world in a fractured way.

"There is no sense of conventional limitations and you can see this in their work. Take Salvador Dali, for example. He certainly saw the world differently and behaved in a way that some people perceived as very odd."

But is it really a mental disorder? Highly creative people tend to reject society's norms, restrictions and conventions and because of that are often driven to making the world a better and more interesting place. However, society often perceives those that don't conform as mentally ill. What do you think?