4 Distinct Problems Gifted People Have In Life Despite Their High Intelligence, According To A Clinical Psychologist
Not everything is sunshine and excellence.
Yuri A / Shutterstock We’ve likely been envious of a highly intelligent or gifted person at one point in our lives. Having abilities or intellect that overshadow their peers, these people often find themselves in the limelight through academic or professional praise.
However, it’s common that many in the gifted community actually don’t view themselves as highly intelligent or over-achieving. Things like emotional burdens, inescapable expectations, and psychological dilemmas are prevalent for many gifted populations.
A clinical psychologist detailed the four distinct problems that gifted people face despite their high intelligence.
Dr. Joey, a clinical psychologist on TikTok, referenced a study called “Gifted People and Their Problems” to discuss the personality traits and struggles of this unique community.
1. They often face social isolation by asking ‘embarrassing’ questions that alienate them from others.
The first consequence many people in this community face is social isolation from their peers, co-workers, and family members.
Constantly thinking from a unique and unobstructed perspective, gifted people aren’t afraid to investigate the typically embarrassing, taboo, or uncomfortable topics of a debate.
2. They deal with alienation from intellectual circles because they investigate problems in unorthodox ways.
In addition to social isolation, gifted people often feel loneliness and isolation in intellectual spaces like a corporate firm or college lecture hall. With many of these environments following strict and formal academic processes, gifted people can find conforming difficult.
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Especially in spaces with high-achieving intellectuals, it can be difficult and uncomfortable to creatively investigate problems that have always been seen from just one perspective.
3. They have a hard time understanding other people's behavior.
“Most people don’t think about things so deeply,” Dr. Joey admitted, “or create complex matrices of reasoning around them.” It can be difficult for gifted people to accept other people’s behavior without a reason for why they act that way.
This “binocular thinking” can increase the struggles gifted people experience in grappling with the harshness of the world. It takes more effort and energy to come to terms with the fact that not everyone is highly emotional, thoughtful, and empathic with their decisions.
4. They can be insecure about intellect.
“They have to come to terms with the fact that they are actually different,” she said, “and that might feel unfair. Usually, gifted people have a complex relationship with authority and don’t want to have an 'authority of mind’ over someone else.”
In the pursuit of understanding others and crafting new connections, gifted people find it difficult to accept their differences. With a ton of discourse over “gifted minds” on social media, this clinical psychologist warned against dismissing the struggles of this community. “Oftentimes, gifted people experience it as more of a disability than an ability”.
Erasure for this community is only creating and fostering more struggles for them and Dr. Joey hopes with time, everyone can be more welcoming, compassionate, and understanding of different world views and perspectives.
At the end of the day, gifted or not, we all struggle with the human experience, and there's a comforting unifying message in simply being.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango focusing on pop culture and human interest stories.