Congratulations! Your child has been identified as gifted. You're home-free! No fights over report cards. No worries about them getting into a good college. Heck, they'll probably be able to take care of you in your old age. You've won the jackpot.
Not so fast. Giftedness is the word we give to people who exist at the most extreme levels of standard deviation at the right edge of bell curve that describes human intelligence. In other words, they are defined by the fact that they are NOT normal. And in a world that's been customized to meet the needs of normals, this can present any number of challenges. Indeed, these challenges can be so formidable, research consistently shows that up to 50% of gifted individuals experience persistent underachievement.
Tomes have been written about each of these individually, but I've never found a source that listed all of them in one place - which is unfortunate, because most gifted individuals are going to experience a combination of these, and they can interact in unsuspected ways. If you're the parent of a gifted individual, an adult that works with gifted individuals, or gifted yourself, I recommend that you keep this list handy. Sometimes all that's needed to help is a bit of clarity and understanding; other times, however, struggling gifted individuals may need intercession in order to help them appropriately cope with the very real challenges that they face.
- Imposter syndrome/self-doubt. One of the most common issues faced by gifted individuals is the fear that they aren't as smart as other people think they are. This is often exacerbated by constant messaging from others telling them: "This should be easy for you." Unavoidably, as soon as something *isn't* easy for them, they begin to doubt themselves. Many gifted individuals report having spent their lives in a state of constant anxiety, afraid that at any time they might be "exposed" as being less gifted than people assume them to be.
- Inflexible mindset. As a result of imposter syndrome, gifted individuals may exhibit an unwillingness to take risks. They would rather go for the sure 'A' than try something challenging and risk a lower grade, an outcome that (they fear) might reveal them to be "imposters." This can prevent them from taking academic, intellectual, or career risks.
- Perfectionism. In moderation, perfectionism can drive gifted individuals to explore the limits of their abilities. Taken to an unhealthy extreme, some gifted individuals may begin measuring their self-worth by external evaluations such as grades or earnings. In excess, perfectionism can cause gifted individuals deliberately to underachieve because they perceive being considered lazy or disorganized as preferable to the risk of being perceived as less than perfect by themselves and others.
- Competing/conflicting cultural/racial/peer expectations. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs reminds us that the most urgent priority in the lives of all humans, including gifted individuals, is their need to feel accepted, safe, and loved. If a gifted individual is striving to be accepted by a group that devalues education due to cultural, racial or peer norms, then it's not uncommon for them to suppress or sabotage their giftedness in order to conform and be accepted.
- Stereotype Bias. Stereotype bias combines several of the factors above, and describes a situation in which a gifted individual belonging to a specific cultural/racial/peer group becomes unnerved by the idea that they are going to be seen as "representing" their peer group. This can lead to anxiety and a desire to withdraw from scrutiny.
- Lack of Role Models. Related to the above, gifted individuals representing minority populations may struggle to envision themselves as assuming gifted roles in academia and the professional world because of the lack of same-minority role models to serve as examples, or even mentors. Many minority STEM professionals continue to report feelings of insecurity due to the lack of existing pathways into STEM for people of their culture or ethnicity.
- Competing/conflicting gender expectations. In some peer groups, gender expectations can interfere with giftedness. For instance, there may be an expectation that girls eschew academic pursuits in favor of more nurturing family roles. Many studies suggest that, even here in the U.S., a persistent stereotype that "boys are better at math and science" continues to limit opportunities for women in STEM careers.
- Competing/conflicting family expectations. In some cases, family priorities may overwhelm all other priorities, including academic achievement. For instance, a gifted individual might be expected to set aside personal aspirations in order to participate in their family's business/concern, contribute income to the family, or supervise/raise family members.
- Poverty. Individuals who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience an early childhood deficient of rich background experiences and content such as attending high performing neighborhood schools, growing up with books in the house, or participating in discussion with educated, literate adults. This can create gaps in background knowledge that can make it harder for these gifted individuals to access critical thinking tasks, leading to confusion, frustration, and anxiety.
- Emotional overexcitability. Gifted individuals are more likely to experience emotional overexcitability, a tendency to experience emotion in a heightened way. This can manifest itself as extreme empathy for the plight of others, a heightened sense of right and wrong, in intolerance for injustice, a tendency to experience emotional extremes, and misplaced guilt/remorse. For such individuals, a single nightly world news broadcast or commercial about neglected animals can be enough to trigger extreme anxiety.
- Psychomotor overexcitability. Gifted individuals can display extreme psychomotor symptoms, including compulsive/impulsive behaviours, extreme competitiveness, and overactivity. These individuals can become frustrated when these natural psychomotor extremes are misidentified as ADHD or immaturity and inappropriately accommodated - or even punished.
- Sensual overexcitability. Gifted individuals can have heightened reactions to sensory stimuli such as music, art, literature, or natural beauty. They may overreact to sensory inputs they find annoying, or crave sensory stimuli that provide comfort or pleasure. These behaviours can create confusion, anxiety, and frustration.
- Intellectual overexcitability. Gifted individuals can exhibit a tendency to engage in intellectual debate and confrontation, which can trigger disputes and create an impression of combativeness.
- Imaginational overexcitability. Gifted individuals often possess rich and complex imaginations, which can manifest as excessive daydreaming or extreme immersion in fantasy worlds - worlds that they have been exposed to through fiction or games, or that they have invented on their own. These obsessions with fantasy worlds can be a blessing (as when they provide a common interest upon which to base friendships) or a burden (as when their obsession with fantasy distracts them from other pursuits, or is perceived by peers as "odd").
- Asynchronous development. While it is not uncommon for gifted children to exhibit levels of maturity beyond their years, this is *not* always the case. It is also fairly common for gifted children to develop asynchronously - to acquire critical developmental skills at an unequal rate, possibly even at a slower rate than age peers. Areas that may develop asynchronously include social/emotional skills, language & communication, cognitive skills, and fine/gross motor skills. This can cause intense frustration in adult guardians/teachers who are expecting a uniformly heightened level of development, but even more so in gifted students who may, for instance, read 6 years above grade level but still burst into tears at their inability to tie their own shoelaces. (FYI, studies show that the slowest skill to develop is often written communication.)
- Precocious reading. One extremely common attribute of gifted children is a love of reading, with their choice of reading material often outstripping their chronological age. Their strong reading skills may make these texts accessible, but unfortunately does not guarantee that they will possess the emotional maturity to deal with the issues that may arise in these texts. They may find themselves unable to deal with the intense emotions aroused by such disturbing themes as injustice, violence, and dystopian futures.
- Introversion. Studies indicate that the majority of gifted individuals are introverts. This can make it harder for them to engage with peers and may lead to feelings of isolation and depression.
- Trouble Making Friends. A combination of several factors can make it difficult for gifted individuals to establish a supportive circle of friends, to include introversion, asynchronously developing social skills, "odd" overexcitabilities, and the statistical lack of cognitive peers. Obviously individuals with very different cognitive levels can establish long and lasting friendships, but studies suggest that gifted individuals derive important social and emotional benefits from being able to interact with others at their cognitive level, which can be difficult to accommodate.
- Co-morbid conditions. Studies show that extreme intelligence often occurs in conjunction with other mental "abnormalities," such as OCD, depression, autism, and bipolar disorder. A challenge in accurately diagnosing the existence of these co-morbid conditions is that gifted individuals are often clever enough to accommodate the most obvious symptoms so that they are not immediately obvious. Another challenge is that these conditions may appear as "shadows" that influence rather than override behaviour. However, the impact of these co-morbid conditions can cause confusion, frustration, anxiety, and lead to the adoption of maladaptive coping strategies such as self-medication.
- Multipotentiality. This is another one of those benefits with a dark side: while it's great that gifted individuals often excel in multiple fields (academics, sports, arts, leadership, etc.), this can be a burden for these individuals when it comes to figuring out which of their areas of expertise to pursue. Anxiety and frustration can mount as different stakeholders (parents, coaches, directors, mentors) urge their imperatives on individuals who do not have enough hours in the day to gratify everyone ... much less themselves.
- Managing adult expectations. Gifted children self report that parents are their #1 source of support ... but also their #1 source of stress! Pressure to meet the (often unrealistically) high expectations of parents can lead to anxiety, frustration, anger, and depression. This can become particularly problematical when a parents' expectations for their child are a mismatch with the child's interests and passions - for instance, a child whose passion is art but whose parents are demanding that they take a pre-law course load. It can be tempting for adults to treat gifted children as "little adults," without making allowances for the fact their children are experiencing the same distractions, hormones, and inconsistencies as their age peers.
- Lack of challenging content. Another huge source of stress for gifted children is having to endure lessons that provide no intellectual challenge. After a while, gifted students repeatedly forced to sit through undemanding classes will conclude (rightly) that school has little of value to offer them, and their boredom and frustration may lead them into trouble.
- Lack of challenging collaborators. While it may be tempting for teachers to pair more capable students with less capable students in hopes that the former will somehow "set a good example" and "pull up" their less capable colleagues, the actual result (studies show) is that gifted students end up doing most of the work and learn nothing. Unless they are consistently paired with peers working at approximately the same cognitive level as themselves, the outcome can be similar to that described above.
- Maladaptive coping strategies. This challenge certainly isn't limited to gifted individuals: faced with anxiety, depression, anger or other frustrations, anyone might find themselves attracted to maladaptive coping strategies - tantrums/outbursts, unhealthy habits, inappropriate attention-seeking, self-medication using alcohol/drugs. However, there is a tendency for people to assume that gifted individuals are "too smart" to fall into these psychological traps, without understanding that the challenges faced by gifted individuals - to include poor self-esteem and constant external pressure to succeed - are precisely the types of stressors most likely to trigger maladaptive coping strategies.
I hope this list proves informative and/or helpful! Let me know in the comments if there's anything I've missed.
