Different brains, different ways of thinking

I've always been a little leery of articles that conflate genius and creativity with certain mental illnesses. Genius may be touched with madness, but the inverse isn't necessarily true. That being said, this is a great piece on mental illness and non-linear thinking:

"Normal" people don't think and act this way is the message. "They" respond rationally. "We," on the other hand, are victims of our runaway brains. Then something happened that caused me to challenge this. Let me explain:

The occasion was a social interaction with a now ex-friend. Her friend was being a jerk, and the only way I could respond without making a scene was by making a scene - I left. New Book! My New Book! Coming Soon!

 Naturally, the friend thought I had overreacted - made a big deal out of nothing - and from her point of view she was absolutely right. So I tried to explain what was happening from my point of view.

Such and such happened, I began, which meant such and such was going to happen. Clear as day, right? She didn't see how my first such and such connected to my second such and such.

A light bulb went off. How could she? I reasoned. She was thinking linearly. I don't, even though I have a law degree. I'm non-linear. A lot of us with mental illness are. Basically, it works like this: People inclined to high creativity, perception, and intuition tend to have brains that are less than efficient in filtering out the world around us.