Hyperactivity could be the key to success

HAVING hyperactivity could help people develop their talents and flourish in their chosen careers, an expert has suggested.

• Kurt Cobain

Rock star Kurt Cobain, Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde, Picasso and Sir Walter Raleigh are among a number of notable achievers who are thought to have displayed symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Others include authors Jules Verne and Mark Twain, guerrilla leader Che Guevara and actors James Dean and Clark Gable.

Professor Michael Fitzgerald, of Trinity College, Dublin, believes that they all owed their success to "risk-taking" genes that play a role in ADHD.

However, campaigners said people with ADHD could be talented in their own right – not because they had the condition.

ADHD is one of the most common behavioural problems in children, causing them to be restless, impulsive and inattentive.

Up to 5 per cent of children are thought to suffer some form of hyperactivity disorder.

But in some cases the symptoms carry on through adolescence and adulthood.

Prof Fitzgerald believes there can be an "upside" to ADHD, which he will explain to a Royal College of Psychiatrists meeting at Keele University today.

"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 workrate 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 conducted research that identified ADHD as a recurring factor in the lives of many historic figures.

One classic example was the hell-raiser poet Lord Byron.

"The best evidence we have suggests that Lord Byron had ADHD," Prof Fitzgerald said.

"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."

Andrea Bilbow, from the Attention Deficit Disorder Information and Support Service (ADDISS), said: "There are young people who do well and are very creative, but the question is are they creative because of or in spite of (their ADHD]?

"We have to be careful that we don't give the credit for their own gifts to their condition."