Do you notice that VERY intelligent people have major addictions?

Question

If you suffer from a drug/alcohol addiction or know someone that does, are you a very smart or creative person?? There are 8 siblings in my family and all of the ones that are like super talented and smart all suffer from addictions, that it has kept them from becoming something really great, it is VERY discouraging, I am wondering if there might be a connection......just curious. Only respond if you are replying about yourself or someone you knew before the addiction. Thank you.

Answer 1

Hey there...

I am in recovery and excelled at school and work (except for the worst parts of my alcoholism), but much of it was because of a grand effort to have everything LOOK perfect when I know it was going horribly wrong on the inside.

After counseling and several years of recovery, life can be balanced and rewarding... and successful. *** AND *** all of my experience (good & bad) is useful now when I am helping newcomers in recovery.

Answer 2

There may be a correlation, but maybe the other way around. Addiction will probably not make you more intelligent. But if you're very smart, at least different enough to be considered different, there is a chance that you may want to abuse drugs or alcohol as a way to escape reality.

Answer 3

I have an IQ of 140. I'm also a seventeen year-old bipolar waster, with a history of alcohol and substance abuse/addiction. I smoke 40 cigarettes and am currently unemployed. I'd like to think that I'm extremely creative, but I'm very self destructive with that.

Someone once told me that intelligent people are more likely to succumb to addiction and crime because they have the ability to see things more clearly, and I definitely agree with that.

Intelligent people know what they are capable of, and don't know what it feels like to be average. Average people are more likely to work their backsides off in the name of making a life for themselves because they know they have no natural talent.

Answer 4

I'm not sure if there's a connection. Unfortunately addictions are very common, so they affect creative and smart people as well as the less gifted.

Answer 5

Yes, i know someone that's very intelligent but not in other ways..they make wrong choices..that's why they have the addictions. Even tho they're smart they just don't think straight when making decisions.

Answer 6

I made a report on this, but, in general, as intelligence increases, happiness overall drops considerably. But also, a former priest once told me, that all things have a balance, like big, heavy things usually don't move fast, and big corporations make lots of money, but can't change on a whim like small companies.

Smart people have their balance too, it used to be social outcasting and weaker bodies/eyes. But now that's changing, but there's still got to be a balancing factor.

Answer 7

It's just your family that has the genetic material for addiction. I have a measured IQ of 138 and I don't have any addictions. Your generalization is based upon too narrow a set of data.

Answer 8

they might be just trying to find themselves in wrong places.
it is true that a lot of musicians like johnny cash, ray charles and a lot of artists do suffer from addictions. there might be a relevance.

Answer 9

It's not so much that intelligent people have major addictions. It's more that those who are significantly more intelligent than their peers often have difficulty maintaining interest in the same things that interest their peers, and feel compelled to find other ways to interest themselves.

Creative people fall under a different category. They tend to see things in a different way to their peers. In a sense, they exist in a slightly different reality, and thus their perspective is quite different. What may seem an incomprehensible passtime to the average person, often does not seem so to a creative person.

Without wanting to blow my own trumpet, as it were, I feel that I belong to both of the above groups. To explain why i believe this, I'm forced to supply further information.

My IQ is, in statistical terms, an extreme outlier on the upper end of the scales that I have researched. In addition, I have several creative pursuits which include writing fiction, composing music, and designing video games.

Some who know me, whom I would classify as 'average' on the aforementioned IQ scales, and who to my mind lack any native creativity, would describe me as being 'addicted' to computer games, music, books, and the internet.

However, my perspective on these interests of mine is quite different. I view them as tools which keep my mind fresh, and allow me to continue actively using and evolving the skills and native abilities that I have developed over the years. To me, they are not addictions.

Conversely, those things that interest them do not interest me. Watching and playing sports, 'souping up' muscle cars, watching television, and drinking alcohol until paralysis sets in are not things that I would enjoy. By their logic, I could describe them as being addicted to alcohol, cars, or television, when their perspective is that these things are just 'interests' to them.

So essentially, often it's less a case of 'addiction' than it is 'interest'. These 'intelligent' siblings of yours may just have different 'interests' than you, or your peers do.

That said, intelligent people are just as prone to suffering from addictions as 'average' people are. However, there may be reason to believe that such people are more likely to seek out passtimes involving drugs, gambling, or similar things, if only because they become bored with 'normal' things more easily. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that a greater proportion of intelligent and/or creative people seek out and eventually become exposed to these pursuits.

Having said that, I know several intelligent and creative people who have used drugs (alcohol with some, illicit drugs with others) responsibly in the past, did not develop addictions to these drugs, and have since stopped using them without any definitive indicator of addiction.

So, the belief that the native intelligence or creativity of a person is a causal factor in them developing an addiction, is flawed. However, it may be a causal factor in them seeking out new forms of personal enjoyment.

It is reasonable to believe that a proportion of these intelligent and/or creative people that do seek out these methods of enjoyment, will eventually develop addictions to those enjoyments. However, an approximately equal proportion of 'average' people who also seek out these methods are likely to become addicted to these enjoyments, too.

The difference is just in the proportion of highly intelligent and/or creative people that become bored enough to seek out these methods, compared to the significantly smaller proportion of 'average' people who become bored enough to seek out the same methods.

But of course, all of this is only my opinion, and is derived from my personal experiences and those of the people I personally know. I am sure that other people will have differing opinions, based on their own experiences. :-)