ADHD & Creativity – Boon and Bust

There are some out there that say that things like ADHD (with or without the h) are a boon to creativity.  (One article – here)  Yes, the daydreaming, enthusiasm and playfulness are great additions when you want/need to create. I maintain that I’m a kid in the guise of a responsible adult. I still love toys, I love to draw and daydreaming is still a hobby. I will admit that those things probably feed my interest in EA’s The Sims series. ADHD’s better traits allow you to make leaps of thought that “normal” people don’t. You ask “What if” more often, and then follow that “what if” train of thought.

But with that comes a sometimes overwhelming problem with not being able to get to the end of things because your mind just wants to move onto fresher pastures all the bleeding time. There is the crippling depression that can come from being undiagnosed and untreated (let me tell you, being told you’re not good enough, an underachiever, capable of so much better when you’re trying your damnedest will warp you for life).

Being a writer, being able to interact with people is kind of required. Social skills? WHAT Social Skills? When you live inside your head for most of the day, dealing with other people can be a challenge. Understanding what motivates other people, why you have to do something when it can make as much sense as string theory does to the average person, really gets in the farking way.

I was diagnosed with ADHD – primarily inattentive (or as it is generally know, just ADD) when I was in my late teens. It flipped a light on – that I wasn’t a “fucking failure”, that there was something that was making my life hellish. Now, when I was eight – I was tested by the school system because I wasn’t performing up to snuff. They thought I was handicapped. Turns out, many tests later that no, I was just bored as I’d already learned what they were teaching in the prior grade in my old school, and that I was actually “gifted” (in the terms of the day), but, to predate Bart Simpson - an underachiever and proud of it. As I’m a female, AD(H)D didn’t even ping on the radar at the time. I still feel I was failed by the school system, and have a hard time supporting the public system thanks to that. Well that and the seeming abandonment of the arts.

Medication turned my world around, though it took over 10 years to get it right. I’m a writer today because I’m able to concentrate, I’m able to see things through to an end. Medication didn’t turn me into a zombie. Therapy helped me learn how to cope with the baggage that being un-treated brought to my life. I’m a happy, healthy human being because I was diagnosed and treated.

Yes, ADHD can be a boon to creativity, but it comes with it’s own sinkholes and failings. It’s still stigmatic. Popular culture has given people such a screwed up notion about mental issues (don’t get me started on OCD and shows like Monk and Obessessed), that we can’t see the wonderful people that are creative, loving and downright amazing before our eyes.

Originally published at Notes from the Geek Side. Please leave any comments there.