I personally think yes.

Fitzgerald had a drinking problem, so did Bukowski.

It just seems to me that creative intellect has the flaw of boredom, and so they seek out stimulates to make everything more entertaining.

(I'm not calling myself a genius here :P)

I think this is a Hemingway quote, and it's pretty concise

"Write drunk, edit sober"

i'd agree.

I think it's sort of a pre requisite to have self destructive tendencies to become a writer/poet.

I mean, how else are we going to make something substantial if we have no experience or emotions to go by?

I think there is some merit to your assumption there, with inebriation great works can be produced, but it hardly coincides with the level of intelligence a person has.  

At the moment, this is all entirely assumption.
It was a general observation i made from the other addictions thread. Im trying to find some back up for my theory and wondered peoples opinions on the subject. I think it's just totally interesting. :D

no, definitely not, addiction is so misunderstood by people it's frightening. intelligence has noting to do with addiction, stupid people get addicted just as much as bright people. I mean c'mon if people were so fkn intelligent why would they go getting addicted in the first place?

there are a number of theories I know of about what causes addiction, the root cause. one would be in genetics, that addiction is in the make up of some peoples dna. now that would be people with addictive personalities, people who may well give up one addiction and head into another after another etc.

the drug/alcohol addiction is a little different, some people can get addicted to drugs because of demographics, poverty, peer pressure, problems at home etc, for them it's the drug that's addictive, the chemical makeup of the drug.  if they do get to kick that habit the chances are they'll not further themselves into another addiction.

there's a study underway in Holland at the moment looking into the possibility of connection between adhd and drug addiction, that might be along the lines of what your thinking about, but adhd doesn't really discriminate between IQ's and the study is still inconclusive.





 

I see your point, but I'm not specifically talking about all addicts here.

Obviously most have lived wrong lives, but that also doesn't make them stupider. Someones scholarly intelligence can be huge but still be dumb in a common sense intelligence way.

My hypothesis is that due to high intelligence, and that because of desensitising yourself to the normal perks of life, you turn to other extremes and note I'm not just talking about drugs. Like adrenaline junkies and gym junkies, too i guess to an extent.

Im not saying that intelligent people are necessarily born to be drug addicts and such, but it's more correlation then anything else. As in, you get bored of just drawing in pencil, so you draw with crayons. You think the world as uninspiring and drab, so you alter you sense of reality.

Heres one link i found thats kinda supporting it, but it's not from a scholarly source.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201003/the-hypothesis

I think it has more to do with the profession than the overall intelligence of the person. Any occupation which requires you to view society and your fellow man in analytical way would (I think understandably) lead to a person seeking relief in substance abuse. Hell if I was just a tiny bit stupider if be on some hard hitting stuff right now.

I wouldn't care to measure intellect by how weak we are with our vices.

this is all awesome

I think profession has nothing to do with it, because i've come across junkies who were doctors and such, so i don't think it's necessarily profession.

And again, i don't think drug addicts are necessarily stupider then the rest.

I mean look at Thomas De Quincy, he's considered one of the smartest literary minds, big huge opium fiend.

I think that would have more to do with the six types of intelligences and how some are just stupider in a common sense respect.

did you post the right link? you might want to explain that in layman's terms. All I got out of that was the obvious but I could have easily misunderstood it.

I'd have thought that addiction within circles of artists, writers, poets would be more to do with statistics than intelligence. ok I think I understand the point that your making, that there's a correlation between writers and addiction. if you look at some of the greats ie  plath, sexton, Behan, Berryman  they had their demons but there are just as many great writers (I assume) that lived a life of moderation too.

gym, extreme outdoor sports, gambling  etc can be put down to adrenaline addiction, food  to chemical


I think , personally when it comes to the fatal addictions I'd be leaning towards a mixture of genetics and demographics.

I'd be interested to hear Mikes view on the genetic side of things.

Not everyone who's an addict is a writer or an artist or creative.  Not every writer or artist or creative person is an addict.  There may indeed be some connection between creativity or intelligence and addiction, but one certainly does not hinge upon the other.

I know for a fact they don't. My stupid current lover, Lily, has this problem where if she gets depressed she starts driking. I HATE THAT ABOUT HER!!! And she's totally not creative. I mean, I showed her a painting I made of her and she wanted to use that for her Facebook page because she couldn't find or come up with anything better on her own. Sure, my painting was good... but I mean she could've at least asked me for permission first. I would've totally given it too! So I told her: "Look Lily, just make sure you tell all your stupid Facebook followers and buddies that I'm the one who painted that thing!" Because like, she has no creative ability whatsoever. The girl's an IT tech support geeek, and that's about as creative with her career as she ever got. Me, I'm a frakking feelance ARTIST! I AM CREATIVITY! And I never drink, never did. Never will! I never smoked either, never did any drugs... I'm just naturally crazy, that's all. So like, that's how I know addictions have zippo to do wih being creative. Although my brother has some pretty creative ways to down a twelve pack of beer! And he's going to become a cop, don't ya love it? Yeah, Jessica "Harley Quinn" Ashton's brother is gonna protect and serve! Sure. The day I hook up with Bats. NEVER! Come to think of it, I'm the ONLY girl in my whole family who never did any addicting substances of any kinds. Kinda puts life into perspective when the loony girl is the sanest one in the bunch! *Giggle* Food for thought.