ADHD may help creative genius to flourish

What do Kurt Cobain, Lord Byron and Sir Walter Raleigh have in common? According to an Irish psychiatrist, they all had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – and it was this that allowed their creative geniuses to flourish.
Prof Michael Fitzgerald of Trinity College Dublin is speaking today (Thursday February 4) at the annual meeting of the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists’ (RCP) Faculty of Academic Psychiatry at Keele University in Staffordshire, about ADHD, creativity, novelty-seeking and risk.

In his recent book of the same title, Prof Fitzgerald has examined the lives of notable achievers including Thomas Edison, Kurt Cobain, Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron, Jules Verne, Che Guevara, James Dean, Clark Gable, Picasso, Mark Twain and Sir Walter Raleigh.
Based on historical research, the Henry Marsh Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry believes all these high-achievers had or displayed symptoms of ADHD.
“The same genes that are involved ADHD can also be associated with risk-taking behaviour. While these urges can be problematic or even self-destructive – occasionally leading people into delinquency, addiction or crime – they can also lead to earth-shattering breakthroughs in the fields of the art, science and exploration.”
He adds: “People with ADHD have symptoms of inattentiveness, but they often also have a capacity to hyper-focus on a narrow area that is of particular interest to them.
Clearly ADHD is not a guarantee of genius, but the focused work rate that it produces may enable creative genius to flourish. For example, Kurt Cobain – who we know was prescribed the anti-hyperactivity drug Ritalin as a child – had an amazing ability to focus on writing music.”
Prof Fitzgerald’s research has led him to identify ADHD as a recurring factor in the creative genius of many historic figures. “The best evidence we have suggests that Lord Byron had ADHD. He had a turbulent life – at school he was often in trouble, and as an adult he engaged in criminal activities and was eventually forced to flee the country. But he was also the greatest lyric poet in the English language.
“Similarly, Sir Walter Raleigh was a reckless character. But his insatiable quest for new stimulation and risk-taking behaviour also made him a famous soldier, adventurer and explorer.”
The TCD professor believes there is a considerable stigma surrounding ADHD, and people tend to focus on the negatives of the disorder. “But we should balance this by remembering that ADHD can, in the right circumstances, be a fertiliser helping to generate a seed of untapped potential in a person.”
Retrospective diagnosis
The practice of what is called ‘retrospective diagnosis’ has revealed some fascinating medical hypotheses, albeit with varying degrees of scholarship. Was Lenin afflicted with syphilis throughout his career? Did King George III exhibit the classic symptoms of porphyria? Or did Tutankhamun have Klippel-Feil syndrome?
Indeed, Prof Fitzgerald is no stranger to the methodology. At last year’s meeting of the RCP’s Faculty of Academic Psychiatry in Wales he claimed that the father of the theory of evolution, Charles Darwin, most likely had Asperger’s syndrome.
Prof Fitzgerald has suggested that creative geniuses such as Archimedes, Newton, Darwin and Einstein may all have had Asperger’s. And after examining the biographies of numerous other prominent figures, he believes such Irish luminaries as WB Yeats and de Valera may also have had the condition.