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It seems like his biggest problem was alcoholism. I don't know that addiction is over-represented among smart people or people on the spectrum. It looks like it
by tachyonbeam 6y ago
It seems like his biggest problem was alcoholism. I don't know that addiction is over-represented among smart people or people on the spectrum. It looks like it can be a vicious cycle though. Abuse alcohol or drugs, make bad decisions, bad decisions have negative consequences, abuse alcohol or drugs again to forget about negative consequences, rinse and repeat. It's a hard cycle to break. Many people can't admit that they have a problem to begin with.
- amelius 6y agoApparently, studies show that IQ and several forms of addiction are positively correlated, [1]. [1] https://vertavahealth.com/blog/correlation-intelligence-addiction/ https://vertavahealth.com/blog/correlation-intelligence-addi...
- girvo 6y agoI’m open about my past Heroin addiction on here, and get a tonne of emails from other HNers. Anecdotally I’ve no idea whether it’s more than should be expected, but a lot of people on here suffer the way I suffered, so it’s definitely an undercurrent at least.
- tachyonbeam 6y agoFor sure it's more common than people think. I think it's good to de-stigmatize both mental health and addiction. IMO shame gets in the way of people asking for help.
- ddingus 6y agoFear, blame and shame do a lot of harm. Amplify the good. People sometimes need help. Can be any of us. Best to just get them that help, in my view.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ska 6y agoI’m pretty convinced there is at least a subset of smart people who are very (i.e. above normal rates) prone to addiction problems, it accept this is anecdotal and subject to sample bias.