Since the 4th grade, I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD. I’ve always been considered to be on the more “creative” side of the intelligence spectrum, being a very musical person as I’ve played both the guitar and alto sax nearly my whole life. I’ve always had a tendency to “think outside the box,” so from personal experience I can support the hypothesis of ADHD making kids more creative. Scientifically, creativity can be defined with divergent thinking concepts. Divergent thinking is being able to think spontaneously with unexpected ideas, also known as “thinking outside the box.” Convergent thinking is the opposite, and is just the ability to deduct incorrect answers with logical reasoning. Kids with ADHD divergent thinking abilities are usually off the charts, whereas their convergent thinking skills are sub-par. A study was conducted by Holly White of the University of Eckerd and Priti Shah of the University of Michigan in order to see if this hypothesis was indeed true.
The study included sixty college students. Half of the students were diagnosed with ADHD, and the other half didn’t have ADHD. Both groups were similar in GPA and other academic areas. Both groups answered questions about their achievements in creative areas. These areas included music, humor, writing, etc. The study found that students with ADHD were significantly more successful in these areas than those without ADHD. It also found in another series of questions that those with ADHD prefer to come up with ideas whereas those without mostly prefer to develop ideas. This relates back to divergent thinking and the ability to spontaneously come up with ideas. The ADHD kids appear to be stronger in this area. A double-blind study in 2009 found that those on Adderrall with ADHD and those that weren’t medicated showed no difference in divergent thinking by performing several tests. However, ADHD kids taking Adderrall were shown to have improvements in convergent thinking. Now only one question remains, why?
I have came up with several hypotheses about these findings within the studies. In individuals with ADHD, their thoughts are spontaneous and cluttered. They are impulsive and are more open to ideas that individuals without ADHD might dismiss as odd or weird. In order to come up with new innovative ideas, especially in music I’ve personally found, one must be very open-minded and experimental. When writing a song most people might reject certain chords within a song for sounding too out of the ordinary and not traditional. Musicians with ADHD are more impulsive with their ideas and in turn are more experimental leading to more creative sounding music. The is a plus side to individuals with ADHD as I’ve observed that individuals without ADHD, especially musicians, might rely on drugs to further expand their mind and be more creative in song writing. It is why many musicians tend to write there best work while under the influence of drugs. They become more experimental with things and in turn, more creative. Their brain doesn’t reject certain ideas as being weird or out of the ordinary. In terms of the Adderrall improving convergent thinking, I believe it is due to an increase in attentiveness to detail. Convergent thinking applies to traditional standardized test taking. When going through a multiple choice question individuals with ADHD, including myself, tend to skip over minor details that end up changing the context of the problem. They also tend to over-think the answers and drift off-task. When on a stimulant medication such as Adderrall, attentiveness is increased and these careless mistakes aren’t made as frequently.
In conclusion, I believe it’s true that ADHD individuals have a strong advantage in creativity. They have the advantage in divergent thinking, whereas non-ADHD individuals are stronger in convergent thinking. Their strength in convergent thinking leads them to be better logical reasoners.
Sources:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201106/is-the-adhd-brain-more-creative
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/02/08/adhds-upside-is-creativity-says-new-study.html
http://old.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110311153543.htm
I think this is a great way to turn a seemingly negative diagnoses into a positive idea. The ability to think on a whim is a true skill, especially in certain professions. For example, as a lawyer, although you must be organized and focused, it is also important to be able to think on your feet. To battle against another human in argument, it is a useful skill in order to overpower them.
I think this is a really important post because I think oftentimes society writes off people with mental illnesses and never really gives them a fair shot when in reality, they can be some of the most intelligent, creative people out there. Another example I can think of is autism. Autistic people sometimes have a very specific skill set, whether it me mathematics or shooting a basketball. This has become so noticeable, that it has been dubbed “savant syndrome” by the scientific community. This article has interesting information on savant syndrome. http://www.sevencounties.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8768
This is a nice blog post, very interesting. A lot of disorders are known to cause creativity actually, like Bipolar disorder for instance. Because of the “manic” stages associated with Bipolar disorder, those who have it tend to be more creative in those states. Lots of celebrities who’ve been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder choose not to seek treatment, however, because they believe it helps them in their creative process if left alone. Here, check out this article: http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-link-between-bipolar-disorder-and-creativity/0002973