Being Extremely Intelligent: The Dark Side We Are Not Talking About

Being extremely intelligent does not always guarantee success or happiness. There is another side to high IQ that we do not always talk about. There is existential anxiety, social isolation, emotional problems or continuous dissatisfaction for not reaching the high goals that a person with such capacities sets.

Some people are quick to say that intelligence is not the same as wisdom, and that the latter is something that many of them with an IQ above 120-130 lack (but not all).

That is why Jeanne Siaud-Facchin, a psychotherapist and one of the most renowned experts in people with great abilities, explains that nothing can be as paradoxical as the brains of these people.

Being very intelligent means a certain fragility. It is a type of mind capable of generating thousands of ideas at once. They are fast, they are original, and they can produce – in a matter of seconds – endless reasoning and concepts.

But they are not always able to manage that much information. Their cognitive worlds have so much capacity that a single stimulus is enough for their neurons to fire instantly and give many ideas. But the truth is that they are not always able to give a concrete or even precise answer.

All of this can create a lot of frustration and confusion. Life is not always wonderful and easy for a person or a child with high abilities. No one has told them how to use their sophisticated brain, which is so eager for information and productive in ideas.

In fact, life becomes much more complicated for people with an IQ over 180. As we can see in the story of the most intelligent man in the world with an IQ of 250, their lives can become real tragedies.

Being extremely intelligent, a paradoxical gift

We live in a society where gifted people are respected. We are fascinated by people with unique talents and abilities, we admire those who dominate a particular area of ​​science, art, sports… So much so that there is no shortage of mothers and fathers who say they want children with high IQ, because somehow the idea that being very intelligent is synonymous with success is still very much present in our time.

On the other hand, children themselves have the belief that nothing can be as fabulous as being very smart. Could there be anything better? The “gifted”, they say, pass exams with good grades without trying or barely reading. Now all educators, any psychologist or parents of a child with high abilities know that these ideas are not always fulfilled.

To begin with , it is very possible that the student with a high IQ goes unnoticed in a good part of school life. It is also likely that they do not get good grades, that they are not good at making friends, and that they are the ignorant student absorbed in their own world living in the back rows of a classroom, where they do not attract attention.

An intelligence that is difficult to control

The reason why being extremely intelligent does not always guarantee that you are the best in the class is multifaceted. First, there is boredom. A child with high abilities does not feel interested or stimulated by things around them and just “disconnects”. They take a passive attitude that can lead to them failing at school.

In other cases, there are students who do not know how to control their ideas and unstructured thoughts. Sometimes when they answer a simple exam question, the child may begin to wander, reflect, and deduce. And never answer the question.

In fact, in the book ” Too smart to be happy ” a girl explains that while her peers only come up with one thing to find a solution, she finds 25. She feels unable to come to a conclusion.

• Branched thinking. One type of reasoning performed by extremely intelligent people is called branched thinking. When a stimulus is received, the mind begins to generate one idea after another, but in many cases without clear associations. It creates a very dense tree with infinite “branches” that the person can not control or organize.

Emotional disasters

Another aspect to consider is hypersensitivity. Being extremely intelligent means that you have a very deep and transcendental vision of reality and the world.

Sometimes, just by watching the news, they feel incomprehensible, angry and skeptical of humanity itself.

Emotions grip them. They cannot control the influence of certain events on them, events that go unnoticed by most people.

Things like lies or deception overcome them, as well as social inequality and wars. It is overwhelming to understand that they may not be able to achieve many of the lofty ideals they have in mind.

Contrary to the idea that extremely intelligent people are cold, their capacity for empathy is also enormous. Therefore, they may prefer to isolate themselves so as not to suffer. Keeping the distance so that they do not get involved too much and get hurt in one way or another.

Their emotional worlds are complex, but they also channel the intensity through creativity and inspiration.

Being extremely intelligent should not mean that happiness is unattainable

At this point, you may think that being extremely intelligent is practically a disorder. But that is not true. Let’s reflect a little.

A gifted child who goes unnoticed through school will develop little academic interest and live in personal isolation where problems such as anxiety or depression may grow.

On the other hand, the WHO gives us a warning: We should not use IQ alone as a “diagnosis” for endowment. Because intelligence can not be separated from emotions, without hypersensitivity, hyperesthesia, hypermotivation, hypermaturity, hyperstimulation, without branching thinking and thinking…

Being extremely intelligent can mean that you live in a very private corner where emotions and thoughts are chaotic, deep and very intense.

Our role as parents, teachers or psychologists is therefore to offer them appropriate strategies for finding balance and peace. Strategies to reach their potential – and happiness.