The ADHD Mind: When Wandering Thoughts Become Creative Breakthroughs
New research reveals how deliberate mind-wandering fuels extraordinary creativity in people with attention differences By Staff Writer | October 2025 For decades, the narrative around Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has centered on deficits: scattered focus, racing thoughts, an inability to sit still. But groundbreaking research presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology congress in Amsterdam this month is rewriting that story entirely. The study reveals that people with ADHD aren't just creative despite their symptoms—they may be more creative because of how their minds naturally work. Lead researcher Dr. Han Fang from Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands studied 750 participants across two independent groups, finally answering a question that has puzzled researchers for years: What's the missing link between ADHD and creativity? The answer, it turns out, lies in something psychiatrists call "deliberate mind-wand...