As a supplement to my previous post, The Creative Adder, I wanted to share some thoughts on adhd and creativity as discussed by Edward M. Hallowell, MD and John J. Ratey, MD in their book "Driven to Distraction".
They say there are several building blocks in the adhd mind that favor creativity. I will list them here with a brief explanation of my own. For a more thorough understanding, please read the book. Hands down, it is the best among all books concerning attention deficit disorder.
1. Adders have a greater tolerance of chaos than most.
We live in constant distraction and chaos everyday. We're used to it! In order to create something new, one must be comfortable with living in the unknown and be able to disorganize what was once organized. We're natural at that. We're not concerned a thought may be too weird, strange or off-the-wall, because that's just the way we think.
2. What is creativity but impulsivity gone right?
You can't plan creativity. Creative ideas just pop-up! "That is to say they are impulsive, the result of an impulse, not a planned course of action" says Hallowell and Ratey. As we think or talk about one idea, which leads to another, and another, and yet another seemingly unrelated topic, ideas "out of nowhere" pop into our minds!
3. The ability to hyperfocus.
To use myself as an example, it can take hours to get me going on a project, but once I start ... once I "get into it" ... I'm a laser beam of intensity and focus. It's like my brain needs a long time to warm up, but once it does, it gets hot and keeps going until I've completed whatever it is I'm doing. Maybe that's why it can take me until 6:00pm to "get going" some days, but the next thing I know, it's 2:00am?
4. The "hyperreactivity" of the adhd mind.
"Hyperreactivity," as coined by Dr. Russell A. Barkely, is how we're always reacting to outside stimuli. Even when we maintain a calm outward appearance, our mind is racing inside, catching this thought and that, calculating our next move, feeding a new idea ... always in motion.
As Hallowell and Ratay put it, "Such hyperreactivity enhances creativity because it increases the number of collisions in the brain. Each collision has the potential to emit new light, new matter, as when subatomic particles collide."
"The trick for the person with ADD is to harness these processes productively. Some people spend a lifetime trying. They burst with creative energy but like a live wire without a socket to plug into, they dispel their energy unchanneled. The child may dissapate his or her creativity just in making wise remarks in class, or the adult may have a long list of marvelous ideas but have no plan for enacting them."
A trick indeed! But the more I learn and the more I recognize that which were once considered "character flaws" are instead, actually adhd ... the better I become at everything I do. And so will you!
