Clinical psychologist lists four problems that gifted people with high intelligence struggle with

Gifted people have certain limitations too, as explained in a video posted on TikTok by clinical psychologist Dr. Joey (@nd_psych). In the video, she talks about four unique psychological problems that gifted people have to deal with or are most likely to have. She also mentions how, more often than not, the issues faced by such people aren't even related to their IQ but to their personality structures instead. She believes that this information can help someone gifted or help someone who knows someone gifted, so let's learn more about it.

Before she moves on to the first problem, she mentions her source and says, "So, I'm going to be referring to a PDF that was written by Francis Highland that is titled 'Gift to people and their problems.'" The first thing she mentioned was the fact that a lot of times, gifted people comfortably question authority since they don't get along well with authority and are also nonconforming in nature. This results in them asking questions that not many would ask, let alone answer. This can often result in social isolation for such people, be it from their colleagues, friends or even family. Their unique point of view allows them to investigate various topics without any social obligations whatsoever.

Next, gifted people may sometimes need to handle alienation because of their unorthodox methods of finding the truth. They can sometimes feel lonely in public, especially in professional capacities, since they tend to give a lot of importance to procedures and formalities. Thirdly, gifted people also have a hard time understanding the behavior of other people. Since they inherently tend to think deeply about anything and everything, they often assume that others do so too. As Dr. Joey said, "Gifted people can read too much into other people's behaviors because they're assuming that they operate on the same level as them." It is this kind of binocular thinking that results in them not being able to completely comprehend just how differently people think.

As gifted as these people are, they are also quite insecure about their abilities because they don't wish to come across as arrogant. Coming to terms with the fact that they're different can sometimes feel unfair to them. Since they have a complex relationship with authority, having authority over someone else can feel uncomfortable to them. Dr. Joey explained this saying, "I think the trick here is accepting one's unique neurotype that comes with challenges and benefits and recognizing that in a lot of cases, gifted people experience it more as a disability than an ability and starting to accept oneself in one's unique way of processing things and that maybe trying to conform other people is never ultimately going to lead to happiness."

The comments section was mostly filled with gifted individuals relating to everything the doctor said in the video. @boredstressed said, "My experience with giftedness: I love that I learn quickly and hold a broad knowledge base, hate the lifelong struggle for satisfying relationships." Another user, @christopherarcy, said, "I struggle with this a lot. There is a ping pong between not wanting to be arrogant and becoming arrogant as a defense mechanism." @auticorrect asked, "How is giftedness identified? Is there actual diagnostic criteria for it?" Dr. Joey ended her video by saying, "But I think a focus on the psychological needs of gifted people is imperative" and we completely agree.

You can follow @nd_psych on TikTok for similar content.


Editor's note: This article was originally published on December 19, 2023. It has since been updated.