Show I This Just in Alcohol Doesn't Spark Creativity I The ElL ElLDee Human Side k Dee Dee Lobato Alcohol and Drug Education According to literary lore alcohol fuels the creative muse and writers from Edgar Allen Poe to Ernest Hemingway Hemingway Hemingway Hem Hem- supposedly pounded out their great pieces of literature in an alcoholic alcoholic alcoholic alco alco- holic haze But now research shows that in all probability great writers who were alcoholic were successful not because of but despite their alco alco- holism In a study supported by NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism alcoholic fathers and their sons were actually less creative than non-alcoholic non fathers and sons Creative people may be alcoholic alcoholic alcoholic alco alco- holic but alcoholics are rarely cre cre- cre- cre said Ernest Noble MD PhD Ph.D. a UCLA researcher who led the study I suspect that we tend to look at great writers under a magnifying magnifying magnifying magni magni- glass and if one out of turns out to be alcoholic then we focus on that one particular aspect and blow it out of proportion he added Nobles study is one of the first to take a pragmatic approach to creativity creativity creativity ity and alcoholism In this study 56 families fathers mothers and sons were divided into three groups 1 recovering alcoholic fathers with a family history of alcoholism 2 non-alcoholic non fathers with a family history of alcoholism and 3 non-alcoholic non fathers without a family history of alcoholism The study participants completed several personality questionnaires that tested creativity including including- the ability to use ones one's imagination ones one's capa capacity ity for originality and curiosity and the ability to think differently from others Intelligence tests were also administered The scientists found no differences differences differences differ differ- among the three groups on IQ I.Q. tests but the recovering alcoholics and their sons who had never been alcoholic received lower scores than the other two groups on a number of measures that tested creativity The recovering alcoholics and their sons tended to be less expressive and imaginative show less appreciation tion for aesthetic stimuli were less attentive more pessimistic and shy and less able to acknowledge new ideas than the other two groups of fathers and sons There were no differences differences differences dif dif- dif dif- in the three groups between mothers and their sons Noble does not discount the effect of alcohol may have on imagination He notes that for instance a glass of wine does make one less inhibited and more prone to the free association association association tion of new ideas But on the other hand too much alcohol or chronic alcoholic abuse can destroy the capacity to think creatively he says This research was published in inthe inthe inthe the July August issue of Alcohol A National Institute of Health Health- Health line Report September 1993 Written Written Writ Writ- ten by Judy |