The hot new drugs: good for focus, not for creativity
Want to get that deck finished, show up your co-workers, impress your boss with your productivity? Try one of the many increasingly popular neuoroenhancers. You’ll have the power to avoid sleep, keep your mind clear, and stay focused on the task at hand. Perfect if you’re among the “anxious employees in an efficient-obsessed, Blackberry-equipped office culture.”
In this week’s New Yorker, Margaret Talbot delivers a thorough and insightful report on why Adderall, Ritalin and other other cognitive enhancing drugs — typically prescribed for children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder – have become the rage with college students and young over-achieving professionals. Short conclusion: they help you get more done.
But while this might be a good idea for a media planner or an account guy (warning: watch out for cardiac problems and bitter office rivals who’ll charge you with cheating) it’s a bad idea for creative people.
Turns out the last thing creative writers, or artists, or musicians want to do is focus. We want just the opposite. “There is some evidence that suggests that individuals who are better able to focus on one thing and filter out distractions tend to be less creative,” writes Talbot. And while this is her only mention about the disadvantages of focusing (Adderall) when it comes to creativity, you can gather more by reading Jonathan Lehrer’s preview of Alison Gopnik’s The Philosophical Baby in this past Sunday’s Boston Globe.
Gopnik and other neuroscientists have been advancing our understanding of a baby’s brain, revealing that newborns are far more conscious than we ever realized. Better yet, their little minds create more connections between disparate regions of the cortex – the center of sensation and higher thought – than most adults can ever hope for.
In short, they got some crazy stuff going on in there. And guess what? By popping Adderall, we eliminate whatever chances we have left of getting some of that crazy stuff going on in our cortex. Sure you may finish that deck or organize those folders on your desktop so their nice and tidy, but your imagination might start slow dancing, carefully predetermining every next step. Not good. For as Lehrer reminds us, if you want to be creative, “the mind performs best when we don’t try and control it.”
What’ll your approach be? Big pharma? Or little baby?
Comments
Society requires us to be well-behaved left-brained people, not creative spacey people. In order to keep up and not end up living with mom, many of us are going to need these drugs.
My grades have gone from B's, C's, and many withdrawals to almost straight A's. The feeling that I'm not throwing my tuition money away anymore, and the feeling that I finally have a chance in the world, is worth it enough.
a:
Don't disagree with the pressures of society. But do your research. No one really knows some of the long term effects of this stuff and it pays to think about that. I sometimes wonder, too, as a parent, with my kids living on multiple screens at the same time and never focusing on one thing if that actually leads to the inability to concentrate or diminished critical thinking. There are studies that suggest so. Hope it's not the case.
Edward,
Will do. I'm sure that it's going to do something terrible to my brain, but the increased quality of life and productivity are worth it to me.
Not to mention... because it hasn't been mentioned yet. Adderall is prescribed for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper-Activity Disorder) not just standard ADD. Even though it's a stimulant, it has the adverse affect on persons with ADHD and calms them down. It's one thing to let the mind wander, but it's a completely different thing to do so while not being able to stop yourself from bouncing off the walls.
The main problem with the college following of this drug is actually the side effects of sleep deprivation and appetite suppression.
If you use the drug in place of no doze and dietary supplements it's going to destroy not only your mind but your body. Anyone who has to take the drug, as I do, to function has to be very aware of those side effects, and take action to overcome them to remain healthy.
This can mean not taking it too late in the day, or forcing yourself to eat at regimented times, regardless of your level of hunger. Unfortunatly it is often used at arbitrary times, as patients self-medicate to fulfill short-term functional needs. (this is why students take it to cram for an examine the night before.)
If routines are set up and adhered to by the patient, they can ensure their health doesn't degenerate. Regular blood work and monitoring helps this as well.
Cheers,
Joe
Joe:
If you have a chance pick up the most recent issue of the New Yorker and look at the letters to the editor. There are some great comments. It appears the jury is still out. It's possible that these drugs can do some real damage and no one's really talking about that yet because they've become so popular we're simply accepting them.
This is all well and good but even creatives have to live and operate in a business world. I would love to read, watch youtube, and listen to music all day long and say that I'm working. But if I don't have my work in to my Creative Director or to the client on time (adderall) I won't have a job.
Then I'll have nothing to do but read, watch youtube, and listen to music.
The creative mind is a muscle, like any other, the more you feed it and the more you push it the better it becomes, the faster it arrives at the big idea, and the easier being creative becomes.
Adderall doesn't help the creative process, but it doesn't hinder it either.
I completely agree with the notion that more focus = less creativity.
I liken it to those pictures (someone posting after me might know the technical term for them) that are optical illusions and have a hidden picture within them. If you TRY to focus and "see" the picture within the picture, you can't. It's only when you ultimately relax your eyes that you see the hidden image. Dead heads never had problems seeing them. Wonder why...
Wow. Great post Edward. And thanks. I truly believe that one of the reasons I'm able to think creatively (and get paid for it) is because my mind does not sit still. And thankfully when I was a child they didn't have drugs for ADD - they had "Jimmy pay #%*)&! attention!"
A long time ago I read something (which I've now misplaced, natch) called "The messy desk syndrome". The idea was that people who had desks that were perpetually messy were more creative *because* of that. The idea was that most creative ideas come from when we "cross sets" -- we take an idea from box A, and combine it with an idea from box B, and come up with new idea C. A messy desk allows that cross-pollination of ideas to happen organically.
That said, it is not enough to just get ideas inside our brains -- we actually have to take action to make those ideas happen. That's where having some focus comes in handy.
That's why Social Media is so powerful -- it "accelerates serendipity" by allowing us to have a "worldwide messy desk", and yet it makes it easier for us to take action because we have instant access to the people that can actually help make those ideas work.
Lisa Hickeyu00e2u0080u0099s last blog post..Look what theyu00e2u0080u0099ve done to my brand, mama.
Marilyn:
Good points. (Woody Allen said 90 percent of all success was just showing up.) But the neuro stuff is about "imagination," in so much as floating and drifting and not focusing can help you find an idea you may not have otherwise come up with. We all need focus. But at other times, for certain types of creativity, we need anything but.
Edward Boches
Mr Edison knew what he was talking about. "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration". Pass the towel and Poland Springs please. Twyla Tharp describes it in her book as "The Creative Habit".
Focus can be a beautiful thing, especially when your focus is on improving.
Ah, better living by pharmaceuticals...There is a fine line between allowing the mind to wander and allowing the mind to wander away. Some people need these drugs to stay on point - not to get more done, just to get anything done.
Still, I find my creativity spikes most well into the night. When my mind is tired it starts to look at things and shape thoughts differently, analyze things less, to roll more with instinct than technique or assimilated knowledge. I often fall asleep at my computer as I try to execute an idea that came by dawn's first light. Of course, the results of that state of mind don't always look as good by the light of day - but more often than not, they do.
I suppose that for those people whose job requires little creativity, this is not an issue. For those of us that have creativity pumping through our veins, it can still be difficult to sacrifice focus for imagination. What good it that great idea if you don't have the focus to manifest it?
Mona:
Agree that everyone needs to be creative, not just the creative department. Wanted to emphasize difference between focusing on task at hand and encouraging mind to wander.
But thanks for defending our colleagues.
Edward Boches
Edward,
With the Celts in the midst of a playoff battle, I'm inclined to choose "Big Baby". But I digress...
Your post stirs up recollections of several 60-minutes episodes that featured savantes, of one creative ilk or another. It always seemed that attempts to medicate robbed the subject of his creative gift.
If you get the chance, check out the doc film "Generation RX" by Kevin P Miller now making the festival rounds.
Fascinating stuff in a new era of innovation when we are teaching children to learn to color outside the lines. As psychiatrist's daughter, I've been watching my father speak as an expert on this topic for the past ten+ years. He believes in stripping down his overly medicated patients, and embracing who you are (albeit this is for milder conditions). I'd have to say another change in this era -- the "account guy" (gal) needs just as much of every ounce of creativity as anyone else that's in the room. Say the same for media, too.
i've been taking adderall and not only doe's it assist in the creative process at the age of 57 i play better, sing ,write, read ,compose,score and copy all of my original music as well as arrange and rearange beatle Music I'm also an accomplised actor ;drama, comedies and musicals.the main point w/ low dose adderall 10mg bid is that you can bring it all togther and do the mundane boring crap ie. the buisness end of what we lovingly call show buisness.I want to tell you that after being on adderall for 15yrs my psychiatist took it off the table w/ out a transional game plan whatsoever and i 've been unable to perform or supplement my income as only a true trubadore can. Is thier anyone out there that can give me any aritcules from magazines ,periodicals studies ,lectures or anything that might bolster my position. My therapist of the past 4yrs is w/ me on this and she holds a masters degree in psycholgy as well as in social sciences and has been in private practice for over a yr and her fee is $100 an hr and she lets me slide for $20 out of pocket She is my zen, taoist , holistic healer of minds that need a just need a little fine tuning and maintainence. The love,respect, and admiration that we share is infinite.
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