Their lack of social activity “hinders their emotional development” as they rarely find others to share mutual feelings with.

According to the team of researchers from the University of Glasgow, children who show greater signs of intelligence and creativity than their peers are at an increased risk of developing bipolar disorder during the later stages of life.

Another study led by researchers at King’s College London in collaboration with the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that bipolar disorder may be four times as common in young adults who had earned straight A grades in school.

Bipolar disorder also known as “bipolar affective disorder” and “manic-depressive illness” is a condition where an individual experiences transition of moods – from mania to depression, in frequent successions. The findings are published today in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

The University of Glasgow performed a study on a large group of eight-year-olds, testing their IQ. Children had both verbal IQ (VIQ) and performance IQ assessed at age eight, to give a Full-Scale IQ measurement.

Participants who received a score within the top 10 percent of manic traits were found to have a childhood IQ that is close to 10 points higher compared to those who were included in the lower 10 percent of the group.

Glasgow researcher Daniel Smith, who led the team of investigators, said that the findings provide a potential explanation regarding how bipolar disorder may affect different generations of individuals.

“We are not saying that high childhood IQ is a clear-cut risk factor for bipolar disorder but rather that there is likely to be a shared biology between intelligence and bipolar disorder which needs to be understood more fully”. Nonetheless, agitated traits showed the strongest connection with verbal IQ (VIQ).

Serious mood disorders such as bipolar may be the price humans have had to pay for our intelligence and creativity.

Suzanne Hudson, chief executive of Bipolar UK, said “Given the rise in requests for support from parents and families of children to Bipolar UK, research that helps identify young people more at risk of developing bipolar disorder is vitally important”.

“One possibility is that serious disorders of mood such as bipolar disorder are the price that human beings have had to pay for more adaptive traits such as intelligence, creativity and verbal proficiency“, he said.

He added that their study will help “future genetic studies” regarding bipolar disorder, intelligence and creativity to develop as well as endeavors to enhance methods to detect bipolar disorders as early as possible in adults.