The odd thing is that 'disorder' might contribute to one's ability to think 'laterally'. Some schizophrenic tend to exhibit certain amounts of clanging. In extr

The odd thing is that 'disorder' might contribute to one's ability to think 'laterally'. Some schizophrenic tend to exhibit certain amounts of clanging. In extreme instances it turns into what's referred to as 'word salad' (presumably the desire to have the alliterative sounds overwhelms one to the point where one no longer cares about conveying meaning). At the same time, a 'normal' mind definitely appreciates clanging when used as a well executed literary component (say, exhibited by Larkin or Cummings). Schizophrenia is a real interesting mental disorder because it touches on so many other disorders (e.g. speech impediments like echolalia often seen in those on the autistic spectrum) and it's tendency to exhibit itself relatively late in life (early to mid 20s is very late for on-set as I understand it re: mental disorders). The Post did a pretty good job conveying a complicated concept in an approachable manner to those who aren't in the field, but as always the primary source is useful, so here's the pre-print: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26814963 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26814963 n.b. My father is in the field and I sent this to him when I saw the mention of Eric Lander (they worked together at Whitehead before Lander left to direct Broad). He regards Lander as highly as I regard DJB. Often the media blows things up, I'd imagine these findings are fairly major within their field, if only because it survived the peer-review process into Nature.