ADHD is a condition that we hear more and more about, often linked to a general drop in behavioural standards among young people. Michael Fitzgerald in his book, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Creativity, Novelty Seeking and Risk, argues that ADHD can be a force for creativity and has played an often overlooked part in creating civilisation.
There are many myths about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Firstly, it is often seen as being a new phenomenon that somehow reflects a general disregard for discipline. A related view yearns for the good old days when the cane could whack malfunctioning youngsters into shape. Another view is that it is a simple label that parents use to explain away the low achievements of their children.
Michael Fitzgerald in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Creativity, Novelty Seeking and Risk, argues that, far from being a shortcoming, ADHD often contributes to the creative potential of sufferers and has been behind some groundbreaking developments in our civilisation.
The book begins with an examination of the notion of novelty seeking and how certain people are more predisposed towards this because of a neurological reward system that gives them a buzz when new and novel sensations are experienced. Like drug addicts these people are willing to take extraordinary risks in order recapture that feeling. While these urges can be problematic or even self-destructive, they can also lead to earth shattering breakthroughs in the fields of the arts, science and exploration. Indeed, Fitzgerald argues that civilisation itself could not have developed without the insatiable urge to seek out new things.
The second part of the book takes a biographical approach and examines the achievements of a host of notable people from an array of fields in the light of their ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders. The range of people that Fitzgerald looks at and the diversity of their achievements makes for fascinating reading and convincingly supports his thesis that ADHD can indeed contribute towards extraordinary feats. Any book that can find a common thread linking such divergent characters as St Augustine, Thomas Edison, Clark Gable and Robert Maxwell (to cite just a few) has to be admired.
Michael Fitzgerald is Henry Marsh Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin. He has a doctorate in the area of autism and has been a researcher in this area since 1973. He has clinically diagnosed over 1900 individuals with autism and Aspergers syndrome, is the author of over 120 publications and has written or co written more than 16 books.
