When I started this post, there was another underlying thought that may now be worth exploring. I teach communication research in th communications graduate school at a large state university. Sadly, we have identified a
statistically significant correlation between all type of excessive behavior (drinking, drugs, mental illness and more) among people who have excelled in their fields. Obviously, we're not proposing that these life-threatening vices where necessary to succeed...where just trying to find out why these giants in their fields were so driven to self destruction. Among the benchmark group we are looking at, the addiction level was over three times that of the general population.

The problem crosses all types of creative indeavors. Think of F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, Anita O'Day, Chet Baker, Coleman Hawkins, Kieth Whitley (an aquaintence, who died from alcoholic poisoning), Hank Williams, Bill Evans (major mental problems)...this depressing list goes on and on.

One idea we're exploring is that most, if not all of the subjects we are looking at were obsessive/compulsive, and were addicted to MANY things, including excelling in their chosen field.

What do you think?


Russ