ADD/ADHD
From English 194 Wiki Site
Relationship between ADD/ADHD and Creativity:
- 13-year old student named, Matthew Kutz, explaining his ADD: “Being ADD means you see things other people miss. When you see a peach you see a piece of fruit. I see the color, the texture, and the field where it grew.”
- Because these disorders are apparent in 5% of the American population and have a genetic basis, modern theories suggest that ADD and ADHD are correlated with a positive factor. This positive factor may be that of creativity.
- Those with the disorder and creative individuals have many of the same characteristics: impulsiveness, restlessness, daydreaming, academic underachievement, sensation seeking, difficult temperament, mood swings, hypersensitivity to stimulation, inattention, lack of social skills, hyperactivity, having difficulty finishing papers and enthusiasm. Furthermore, those with ADD/ADHD score higher on creativity tests than the norm and creative individuals are more hyperactive than most.
- There are many famously creative individuals who have had Attention Deficit Disorders. These individuals include Nikola Tesla, Mozart, Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin.
- Types of relationships
- Although it is difficult to understand the relationship between ADD/ADHD and creativity, since both are extremely complicated and not all is known about either, there are possibilities that have been looked over.
- The first possibility is that there is no relationship between the two at all; however, this is unlikely based on the great similarities between the two.
- Another possibility is that both creativity and ADHD/ADD are one in the same. This is to say that creativity and ADD/ADHD as a combined force would characterize those with ADD/ADHD as one side of the spectrum and inventive individuals as the other side. However, this is additionally highly unlikely since there are many cases in which creative people do not have ADD/ADHD and those with ADD/ADHD who are not creative.
- This leaves the idea that there is an overlap between the two entities. Although this idea is widely agreed upon, the way in which and where the overlap occurs is controversial. There is evidence that both could have psychological, temperament, and/or cognitive bases. The brain structures of the creative and the ADD/ADHD individuals are similar as well. The brains of both Attention Deficit Disordered people and highly creative people have weak “braking” mechanisms. Researchers hypothesize that this weak “braking” mechanism allows for creative thought since unchecked ideas collide over time. Researchers have found that this “braking” mechanism is a neurological defect (The Coincidence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Creativity). Also, researchers believe that mild damage to the forebrain can cause both ADD/ADHD and a heightened sense of creativity. A 1992 study exemplified the relationship between these two entities. The study involved ADHD children and showed that these children, in comparison to normal children, had a higher sense of creativity.
- Although it is difficult to understand the relationship between ADD/ADHD and creativity, since both are extremely complicated and not all is known about either, there are possibilities that have been looked over.
Starter Links and Citations
Related Research Reports
See Also
Brooke Birrenkott 01:20, 8 June 2006 (PDT)
