Bipolar, ADHD, Creativity
Renee Hopkins Callahan posted a recent blog titled Bipolar children more creative than other kids. It cited a study on this topic and offered some interesting thoughts. First, the study:
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown … that a sample of children who either have or are at high risk for bipolar disorder score higher on a creativity index than healthy children… (A small study, published in the November issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.)
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The researchers studied 40 bipolar parents and 18 parents without medical problems. The study focused on the children. Half the children of the bipolar parents also had bipolar disorder. The other half had ADHD, which is common in children of bipolar parents. (This 50/50 ratio was probably part of the study design.)
The study measured creativity with the Barron-Welsh Art Scale. I am quite skeptical of the inference that a high score on this scale, or on any scale, measures what we commonly mean by creativity. But I think the score may represent one of the elements of creativity.
The results showed that both bipolar and ADHD children had substantially higher scores on the scale than children without such “disorders.” The results could be interpreted as suggesting that both conditions were associated with higher potential creativity.
The study is not adequate as a basis for strong conclusions and I am sure the researchers pointed this out. It does offer what I call actionable intel, some of which is in Callahan’s blog. I will get to that later this week, but here I will point out the question it raises about ADHD.
Calling on my own unconventional mental module, I suggest that many cases of ADHD are nothing but a low tolerance for boredom. After all, the most public symptom is a failure to sit quietly in school and be bored. (I am speaking from personal experience on this. I avoided being bored out of my gourd in school only by daydreaming.) Use clicks on the TV remote as a measure ADHD and we might be able to headline it as The Next Great Threat to the American Way.
If this theory is correct, the best solution would be to make school work more interesting. (Hear the theme from “Man of La Mancha” at this point.) Lacking that, maybe we could just teach the children the fine art of looking quietly attentive while daydreaming. I mean, before they develop the skill on their own.
Meanwhile, I will see if I can find some good research that relates span of attention to ADHD. If I don’t get distracted.
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown … that a sample of children who either have or are at high risk for bipolar disorder score higher on a creativity index than healthy children… (A small study, published in the November issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.)
---
The researchers studied 40 bipolar parents and 18 parents without medical problems. The study focused on the children. Half the children of the bipolar parents also had bipolar disorder. The other half had ADHD, which is common in children of bipolar parents. (This 50/50 ratio was probably part of the study design.)
The study measured creativity with the Barron-Welsh Art Scale. I am quite skeptical of the inference that a high score on this scale, or on any scale, measures what we commonly mean by creativity. But I think the score may represent one of the elements of creativity.
The results showed that both bipolar and ADHD children had substantially higher scores on the scale than children without such “disorders.” The results could be interpreted as suggesting that both conditions were associated with higher potential creativity.
The study is not adequate as a basis for strong conclusions and I am sure the researchers pointed this out. It does offer what I call actionable intel, some of which is in Callahan’s blog. I will get to that later this week, but here I will point out the question it raises about ADHD.
Calling on my own unconventional mental module, I suggest that many cases of ADHD are nothing but a low tolerance for boredom. After all, the most public symptom is a failure to sit quietly in school and be bored. (I am speaking from personal experience on this. I avoided being bored out of my gourd in school only by daydreaming.) Use clicks on the TV remote as a measure ADHD and we might be able to headline it as The Next Great Threat to the American Way.
If this theory is correct, the best solution would be to make school work more interesting. (Hear the theme from “Man of La Mancha” at this point.) Lacking that, maybe we could just teach the children the fine art of looking quietly attentive while daydreaming. I mean, before they develop the skill on their own.
Meanwhile, I will see if I can find some good research that relates span of attention to ADHD. If I don’t get distracted.
posted by Selby Evans at 1:08 PM
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