Does ADHD truly confer greater creativity? If you get your science news only from your Facebook feed, you might think so. The truth is more complicated.
Recently, preeminent ADHD research scientist Russell Barkley and I simultaneously commented on an extremely misleading article on this topic. It was at the Scientific American website, not a staff-written piece but rather from a contributor. I’ll share our responses below.
But first. Understanding complex issues requires complex thought—and tedious research. The online world, however, skews towards simplistic opinion—and clickbait. Even academics in the field of psychology with little training in hard science fall short of rigorous thinking on scientific topics.
The Two ADHD Worlds: The Real and the Online
1. In the “real” world, ADHD-focused clinical and scientific investigators toil in the trenches. They have little time or inclination for blogging or writing op-eds. (As if The New York Times and most other online news organizations ever showed interest in legitimate ADHD experts).
2. In the “online” world, unqualified self-promoters spin their sketchy—but quite attention-getting—theories.
If we read or view only sensationalism from the charlatans, we might never see the Mack truck-sized holes in their arguments. To make matters worse, these charlatans often go “viral.” Like a virus, their harmful distortions risk insidiously further weakening the public’s understanding of this highly variable condition called ADHD.
Years ago, I asked readers to name the most irksome ADHD myth they hear (Annoying Things People Say About ADHD). The creativity bit came up—prominently.
I’ve seen even people with ADHD who have benefited from medication applaud these charlatans. They seem to take for granted ADHD’s status as a legitimate condition that confers proper treatment. They fail to see the connections between the charlatans’ propaganda, public opinion, and public policy.
I cannot counter all the logical, factual flaws in all the pieces about ADHD online. It was easier in the early days. There was less of it but still time-consuming. Now, we seem to be drowning in it. So, I try to be selective.
“The Creative Gifts of ADHD”
For example, consider this problematic piece published on Scientific American’s site: “The Creative Gifts of ADHD”. Many readers will conclude, “Oh, it’s Scientific American, so it must be true.” Alas, even venerable institutions now compete in the clickbait world. As a result, they compromise editorial integrity by accepting free content from “guest” authors. The more clickbait’ish the title, the more the traffic.
The website does, however, include this tiny, hard-to-find disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
The author reposted the piece a few weeks later on Alternet.org. This time, it sported an even more provocative clickbait headline: ADHD Brains Are the Most Creative: Why Do We Treat It Like a Disability?
The headline provides the reader’s first clue that the story following will be binary nonsense. That is, this notion that there are “ADHD brains”. Instead, we have millions of individuals who have various manifestations of a highly variable syndrome, along with endless variations on other human characteristics. By the way. creativity is a human characteristic.
After I left a comment at Scientific American, I read other comments.
To my surprise, Russell Barkley, PhD, a preeminent research scientist in the realm of ADHD, had already left a comment. He has given me permission to re-print it here. Please share this on Facebook, Twitter, in personal e-mails, or whenever you need a solid counter to the online nonsense. Instead of dumbing-down the dialogue around ADHD—thus losing intelligent people—we do better to emphasize the complexities of the human brain.
Dr. Russell Barkley Responds:
Despite repeated assertions by trade book authors on ADHD, especially in adults, and now the author, Mr. Kaufman, the entire body of evidence available on any link of ADHD with increased creativity does not support such a link. What it does show is that people with ADHD range across the entire spectrum of creativity, variously measured, as does the general population. But there is no significant correlation between ADHD or its symptom severity and increased creativity.
This does not mean that some people with ADHD are not creative, for some surely are. It means that such creativity, among many other psychological abilities, comes not simply by virtue of the person having ADHD. Cherry-picking cases of creative people who have ADHD is not evidence of such a link. It is tantamount to selecting red-headed people with ADHD and then asserting that there is some important association between the two. Such anecdotes are not evidence.
Also noteworthy in Kaufman’s post: The apparent scientific citations marshaled to support the assertion that ADHD is related to increased creativity show no such thing. Indeed, several of the scientific papers found just the opposite or were not of studies of ADHD and creativity at all.
Deciphering Citations
For instance, one article (the second citation) is simply a study of the link between mildly lower levels of cognitive inhibition and creativity, which does not focus on ADHD at all. Yes, somewhat lower levels of mental inhibition have a small but significant association with generating a wider diversity of ideas, but this refers to rather small decreases in inhibition in the typical population, not to clinically severe levels of impulsivity as seen in ADHD.
As another example, one of the other studies cited (by Zentall) had nothing to with creativity but rather with production deficits associated with ADHD.
And, the fourth citation is not a study of creativity in ADHD but of social cooperation and rule-following.
One could go on dissecting the list of supposedly supportive citations about ADHD increasing creativity but this should make the point: Such evidence is thin.
Some Studies Associate ADHD with Decreased Creativity
Most studies of ADHD that actually measured creativity did not find any such link and a few found the disorder to decrease certain kinds of creativity.
Focusing on the one study of gifted ADHD participants and their somewhat better creativity relative to other gifted but non-ADHD people hardly provides overwhelming support for the author’s thesis. The fact that all were gifted to begin with precludes generalizing these results to all people with ADHD.
This sloppy scholarship and highly selective citation ignore the disconfirming studies. To get a better research sampling as well as several reviews, use Google Scholar to search the science journals for studies on this issue.
The totality of such evidence refutes the author’s thesis. ADHD is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder associated with impairments in multiple domains of major life activities. While some with the disorder may function well in some areas of life (e.g., Michael Phelps and swimming, Ty Pennington and destroying and rebuilding houses, Glenn Beck and political commentary, etc.), they often have struggles with other areas of functioning (DWIs, managing money, social relationships, etc.).
But even if well-adjusted, these unusual success stories do not represent the more typical outcomes of children with ADHD followed to adulthood, as I found in my own Milwaukee longitudinal study and as evident in all other longitudinal research.
We can celebrate the successes of some people with ADHD without misrepresenting the disorder as somehow conveying cognitive gifts or other benefits, which it clearly does not.
In more than 10,000 scientific studies now published on the disorder, none found that ADHD conveyed some increased benefit in mental functioning or psychological abilities beyond what is found in the general population not having ADHD. In nearly all instances where differences in the ADHD group were noted, they were deficits, not advantages.
Let Us Celebrate Successes, Not Romanticize an Impairing Condition
Kauffman closes his piece with this:
Consider the case of John, who in 1949 attended Eton College and dreamed of becoming a scientist. However, last in his class, he received the following comment on his report card:
“His work has been far from satisfactory… he will not listen, but will insist on doing his work in his own way… I believe he has ideas about becoming a Scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous, if he can’t learn simple biological facts, he would have no chance of doing the work of a Specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time on his part, and of those who have to teach him.”
This remark refers to Sir John B. Gurdon, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his revolutionary research on stem cells. Like so many other highly creative, competent individuals, he might have been referred for testing and given the label “attention deficit hyperactive disorder”.
Hypotheticals about Nobel laureates are just that, hypothetical. It is hardly a confirming instance that Gurdon had ADHD, would have been diagnosed as such, or that creative people are at higher risk of being improperly diagnosed with ADHD.
By all means, let us celebrate, encourage, and support the talents of individuals. But let us not romanticize them as arising from a serious neurodevelopmental disorder such as ADHD. This does a great disservice to the many others with the disorder who struggle daily to cope with and compensate for its significant adverse impact on their lives.
—Russell A. Barkley, PhD
More Posts from/about Russell Barkley, PhD
Dr. Russell Barkley: When ADHD Kids Grow Up – Reviews and endorsements of his research team’s pivotal book, ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says.
Hey CDC, Why Misinform on ADHD?
Background: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been promoting therapy before medication for young children with ADHD. Sounds reasonable, eh? Except it’s not. A guest post below from Dr. Barkley explains the details.
I agree that All of the studies regarding adhd and creativity thusfar have been based on subjective “cognitive test” type bs. But I do not understand why that thereby definitively means Adhd does not bring with it increased creativity,
In the past 5 years or so there have been new scientific ventures into creativity as it relates to brain networking. Such Neurobiological studies strongly suggest a link between increased brain functional connectivity, and creativity, specifically regarding abnormal rates of default mode activity. Both of these have been demonstrated to be A major component of the ADHD brain. So my question is why hasn’t there been studies of that nature in adhd brains or at least a comparative study of MRI imagery of ADHD and Creative brains? My guess is exactly because of the kind of authoritative assertions of an inherent absolute and total superiority of neurotypical brains masquerading as empathy towards people with “seriously disabling” condition, that people like Kaufman make.
The findings thus reveal a wholebrain network associated with high-creative ability comprised of cortical hubs within default, salience, and executive systems—intrinsic
functional networks that tend to work in opposition—suggesting that
highly creative people are characterized by the ability. Have a good day,
Here is a link to one such study
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321729749_Robust_Prediction_of_Individual_Creative_Ability_from_Brain_Functional_Connectivity
Hi Zoe,
Thanks for your thoughtful comment and the link to an interesting study (I don’t have time to read it closely but I did skim to get the gist of it.)
I think this issue might be clearer if we understand one thing: There is no ADHD brain.
As I mentioned in the piece, this kind of self-serving reductionist thinking serves only one purpose: to draw traffic to websites or to sell by books. By non-ADHD experts claiming expertise.
It is not honest. It’s not helpful. It can mean the difference between a person staying “in denial” and blaming their challenges on “neurotypicals making all the rules…..and…being realistic, self-educated, and self-empowered, targeting those challenges with useful and often evidence-based strategies.
Creativity is a human quality. It manifests in various degrees throughout the human population—as with many other characteristics and qualities, such as impulsivity, distractibility, mood dysregulation, etc.
When an individual has a certain extreme number or manifestation of those traits—and is experiencing impairments in life—that’s where what we call the ADHD syndrome comes in.
A syndrome manifests differently in the individuals who have it. And those individuals also have many other aspects to their personality and neurophysiological makeup.
Moreover, millions of people border on qualifying for the diagnosis, still experiencing ADHD-related challenges to a degree but, at least in the judgment of some, not qualifying for the diagnosis.
ADHD is considered a developmental disability, and there is brain-imaging evidence for this. Whether Mr. Kauffman understands this or not. I know one thing he understands: How to promote himself using contrarian taglines. It always sells in social media, much to the detriment of people with ADHD and public understanding of it.
If I’m reading that study correctly, it suggests that creativity is associated with integrated neural pathways throughout the brain.
As you probably know, with ADHD, the challenge is erratic transmission, to one degree or another, along those neural pathways. Stimulant medication improves communication neuron-to-neuron and throughout the brain. To me, the study (if I’m reading it correctly) sheds light on how people with ADHD might have better access to their innate creativity — if they can just improve the transmission lines.
I’ve heard many people with ADHD say that they are more creative, not less, once taking medication. They are better able to conceptualize, to disregard the ideas worth discarding and follow through on those worth pursuing.
There is no authoritarian conspiracy among scientists to demonstrate the “neurotypical” brain (whatever that is) is superior to the “ADHD” brain (which does not exist). Not that I’ve seen. Remember, many scientists also have ADHD.
When the study subjects are plentiful, scientists will no doubt see a range within them for whatever trait they are researching. They do explain that they tried to recruit with demonstrated creative abilities in mind. That seemed to come first: What brain patterns do we see with higher expressions of creativity.
Thanks for your comment,
Gina
Why is having a neurodevelopmental disorder shameworthy or a gift?
I have a serious genetic neurodevelopmental disoder – I was born male. More of us are born because we die at a higher rate, live shorter lives and are deficient on most social skills. Our group is responsible for the destructionm of most planetary life and almost all the serious damage to the other half of the human race.
I ACCEPT THIS – I DON’T WALLOW IN IT – DENY IT OR TELL MY SELF HOW MUCH FUN IT IS.
I try to find out as much as I can about the condition, look to other examplars of coping, and mitigate my risks. I dont pretend I dont have it, or even consume myself with treating it – I live with it. This doesn’t mean that I minimize the damage that not attending to my condition can do – and I accept full responsibility for the management of my condition – even though no fault of my own.
Dear Dr. V.,
You ask, “Why is having a neurodevelopmental disorder shameworthy or a gift?”
Yes!!!! I could not agree more! Either extreme is intellectually insupportable.
As for the male “disorder” part, my 76-year-old scientist neighbor was trying to convince me of that the other day. “Gina, the human race is through with men. We don’t need them anymore! They’re useless!” [me shaking my head and laughing] “No, Gina, it’s true! Useless! Outlived our usefulness to the species!”
He gets a little carried away. 😉
Personally, I’m rather partial to the other half of the species, warts and all.
Thanks for writing,
g
Thanks for the response.
Paul
I understand Dr. Barkley, and appreciate what he does and says.
It’s hard to hear people, no matter how right they are, to say I am part of a group that has a “serious neurodevelopmental disorder”.
That and the ADHD label, in social and public situations can be useful, in that it can give people a small short glimpse, of part of who I am. But only as far as their understanding and/ or empathy/ compassion go, ie…Who “they” are.
The “write off,” by others, and myself, of the quality and importance of my thoughts, ideas, and expressions as a human being is anything but supportive of creativity.
Though suffering seems to bring out some emotional creativity in me, it’s probably because it hurts so much it gets the mind to work well for awhile.
My long time undiagnosed ADHD has gone a long way in shaping responses to life’s situations. If anything, it caused me to constantly adapt and deal with something I didn’t understand, or have control of, with a “shotgun like try anything” approach.
If failures and persistence with some scattered successes build character, and as a result creativity, then yes I have some additional practiced creativity.
Still, I have always disliked labeling whether it is a group or diagnoses. I feel like I, and others, get lost in a description that seems to neglect who we (individuals) are.
It feels like, too often , the labels envelop rather than describe the cause and effects. I wish there was a better way.
Thanks again Gina. Writing this feels like it helps my creativity and understanding. Mostly for me.
No response needed.
Paul
Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Paul.
You said it best: “I wish there was a better way.”
Today my husband and I joined another couple for a home tour of California-native plants. I met her through my local group for the partners of adults with ADHD. I met her husband through my Adult ADHD group. We all enjoy each other’s company. We drove around the SF Peninsula for 6 hours together in one car.
My husband and her husband share some common ground around ADHD, and they had fun pointing this out to each other in the course of the day. But they are such distinct individuals in every other way that no sane person would think of lumping them into a group of any kind. (Except maybe male.)
And that’s how I see all my friends with ADHD. They share common ground but remain very much their own unique selves.
It annoys the heck out of me to see anyone try to group them as any one thing, especially when it’s done to pander (as it often is).
When you sit in a room for several hours with about 30 adults with ADHD month after month, for years, as I have, you can’t help but be struck by the variability in temperament, occupations, life experience, ADHD-related challenges, etc. ADHD is just a small part of who these people are, but sometimes it has played too big a role by being unrecognized.
Dr. Barkley has been the bulwhark against fuzzy thinking, especially the half-baked studies that purport to show that people with ADHD are more creative. Maybe some well-designed study will indeed show that—and he allows for that possibility—but it hasn’t been done yet. And that is his argument: there is no evidence, so stop making that claim. It can do real harm when muddy research is viewed as equal to the preponderance of well-validated research.
Without the rigor he and other ADHD experts have practiced in their research and writing, ADHD would not exist as a legitimate diagnosis that allows, for example, people who desire it to have schedule 2 substances as medication—and to have it be legal and at least in part paid for by insurance (for some).
Unfortunately, the human brain is mostly lazy. It doesn’t think well in the shades of gray, the nuances; it goes for the blunt categories. Most human brains can’t handle the complicated picture that is ADHD, or what I call Extreme Human Syndrome. 🙂 There is no trait associated with ADHD that is not a basic human trait; it is only a matter of severity and number that makes the difference.
Creativity is a human quality. Maybe people with ADHD in general have “extreme creativity” or maybe they don’t. But this idea of “people with ADHD are creative” and “non-ADHD people are boring Muggles” — well, that is just so stupid it takes my breath away.
Sorry, that was a long response and you said you didn’t need a response. 🙂
thanks for the conversation.
g
Gina this ones for you baby. You say that there is no trait associated with ADHD that isn’t a human trait, Here are just two of the many many, many possible links I could give you to neurobiological studies of the unique structure of the ADHD brain. I seriously suggest you read these and practice a little more validation and a little less projection of internalized insecurity onto the entire community of people with ADHD.
https://adhd-institute.com/burden-of-adhd/aetiology/neurobiology/
https://www.nature.com/articles/pr9201196
Hi Zoe,
I’ll ignore your misguided insults and projections.
Perhaps you want to make someone else your whipping post. I have worked ceaselessly for 20 years to serve the ADHD community, most of it uncompensated.
Perhaps you would like to receive my daily e-mail. Would you have compassion for people who are suffering for lack of proper diagnosis and treatment — instead of misdiagnoses that run the gamut and are therefore harmful or no treatments at all? Including for “giftedness” and “creative.” I’d be glad to forward thousands of them to you and let you respond to them.
How many people do you know who have ADHD? I mean, know personally, not from a blog or Reddit thread. What is the age range? I have met thousands, from age 3 to 90.
How many scientific researchers do you know in the field of ADHD? I personally know dozens. How many published and highly cited papers have you read? I’ve read thousands. How many high-level ADHD scientific conferences and lectures have you attended? I’ve attended dozens.
In fact, I’ve already read the two papers you have provided. And I’m wondering if you read them. Because even as you attempt to use them to slap me about, I’m not sure you understand the methods and conclusions.
There is no “unique structure of the ADHD brain” — except, possibly, in aggregate. That is, large populations of subjects. Not individuals.
ADHD is a “dimensional” condition. There is a range in the human population. There is no black and white cut-off. Moreover, the relatives of people diagnosed with ADHD are more likely to — of course, given high heritability — also have ADHD. But additional relatives also are more likely to have sub-clinical ADHD — that is, not quite pronounced or impairing as to mean a diagnosis. They are on the lower spectrum, in other words, of this dimensional condition.
In my experience, people with ADHD who are over-focused on the marketing lines (“more creative,” etc.) are fearful that they cannot change the behaviors that challenge them. They cling to that as if only “creative” and so forth can define them favorably. They limit their self-concept to simple tropes. As a result, they miss out on a lot in life. The fact that some of them are narcissistic only compounds their problems in life and relationships.
To be sure, the marketing lines are not coming from scientists. They are coming from hustlers who do not mean people with ADHD well.
I have found that it’s more useful to focus on each individual’s ADHD-related challenges with a problem-solving approach. What is holding them back? What causes them grief? Focus on resolving that, and leave the marketing lines to others. Then they can better express whatever gifts and talents they possess as individuals.
take care,
Gina
Whenever I see an article discussing how creative and ‘right-brained’ people with ADHD are, I often wonder if it’s discussing the same disorder that I have. I may indeed be creative, but considering I’ve never finished that novel, that quilt, that painting, that sketch, or any other piece of creative work, ADHD is not exactly something I brag about. The fact is, I haven’t held a job or lived in the same place for more than two years since I was 17 (I’m 37). I’ve attended five different universities and never graduated. If that’s being ‘creative,’ than I’d rather not be.
I hear you, JR. And I’ve heard much the same from my intelligent and creative friends who have ADHD.
It is very rare to encounter this kind of mentality when someone is NOT trying to sell something, or self-promoter. Buyer beware!
Artist and writer Jaclyn Paul, who has ADHD, wrote about the years spent not knowing she has ADHD, and the cost to creativity. It is part a review of my book. http://www.jaclynpaul.com/mtsarchive/?p=1019
As a man who has been married to a creative woman with ADHD for over twenty years I appreciate Dr. Barkley’s rebuttal to the article lauding the ADHD-creativity connection. Making good art is a challenge under the best of circumstances and no amount of ‘gift’ in the artistic way is any help balancing a checkbook, remembering to service the car or succeeding at a career.
The more I read about Dr. Barkley, the more I want to run up to him, give him a huge hug, and say “Thaaaaank you for everything!” Of course, that would be impulsive & socially inappropriate, so I won’t do that.” 🙂
Haha! Dotty, I feel the same way. And I bet he’d love that impulsive hug. Try it the next time you see him. 😉
Gina