Can You Be “Too Smart to Have ADHD?”

High intelligence does not protect you from the effects of ADHD, a recent study indicates. Unfortunately, too many people mistakenly assume that high IQ rules out ADHD entirely.

Psychologist Thomas E. Brown, a prominent ADHD expert and assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine, has previously conducted several studies to learn more about high IQ individuals with ADHD. The latest effort is now available from the online edition of the Journal of Attention Disorders (for a fee to non-subscribers) and will be published in the September print edition.

The scoop, according to the press release from the Yale University Office of Public Affairs:

“Even the high-IQ (120+) ADHD group lacked self-management skills and the ability to focus. They tended to procrastinate and be forgetful and had difficulty in harnessing their talent to complete many daily tasks, the study found. In fact, 73 percent of the ADHD population showed significant deficits in five or more of the eight measures of executive function.”

If you’re like me, you know several people with undetected, untreated, or “in-denial” ADHD who’ve been trying to finish their Ph.D. thesis for, well, a long time now. Do them a favor, and forward to them this post. They might be glad to know that their challenges in procrastinating, prioritizing, and all the other executive functions probably have nothing to do with intelligence. Or willpower.

–Gina Pera

TagsGina Pera, intelligence and ADHD, IQ and ADHD, Journal of Attention Disorders, Thomas E. Brown, too smart to have ADHD?, Yale University