Ever wondered why Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy didn't work out? Why did Kevin Hart end up divorcing his wife? And how does Will Ferrell manage to stay in character at all times? Are the brains of comedians set up differently than that of a "normal" person's? In a study conducted in the British Journal of Psychiatry, researchers found that comedians have high levels of psychotic personality traits.

The research was conducted on comedians from Australia, Britain and the United States. The comedians scored "significantly higher on four types of psychotic characteristics compared to a control group of people who had non-creative jobs." These "funny people" demonstrated tendencies towards impulsive or anti-social behavior as well as avoiding intimacy.

"The creative elements needed to produce humor are strikingly similar to those characterizing the cognitive style of people with psychosis-both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder," said Gordon Claridge of the University of Oxford's department of experimental psychology. Claridge, who led the study, also confirmed that the traits established as "psychotic" can also represent healthy equivalents of things such as moodiness, social introversion and the tendency to lateral thinking. This might explain why comedians are a truly exceptional type of people.

"Although schizophrenic psychosis itself can be detrimental to humor, in its lesser form it can increase people's ability to associate odd or unusual things or to think 'outside the box,'" Claridge added. "Equally, manic thinking -- which is common in people with bipolar disorder -- may help people combine ideas to form new, original and humorous connections".

An online questionnaire of 523 comedians and 364 actors was also conducted. The traits scored were; "unusual experiences, cognitive disorganization, introvertive anhedonia and impulsive non-conformity." The results of the comedian and actors were then compared to the results of 831 people with non-creative jobs. Researchers found that comedians scored significantly higher on all four types of psychotic personality traits compared to the general group.

Our jokers were found to be more impulsive non-conformity and to have more introverted personality traits. The actors did not display high levels of introverted personality traits. These are striking results considering that comedians get up on stage and often make fun of other people. Those are traits possessed by extroverted and social people, you would think. 

Can you now understand how it is difficult for comedians to stay in committed relationships and even get out of character? Almost makes you feel bad for the restraints that might go on in their heads. Nonetheless, we love you, Jim Carrey, Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell!