Articles and opinions on happiness, fear and other aspects of human psychology. James, C., Bore, M., & Zito, S. (2012). Deal? A … It was in the 60’s when a long study of highly capable children began. Those are all well-known figures, of course. More than 30 studies have linked higher intelligence to mental health disorders including major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and others. Psychotic symptoms imply that someone is delusional in their thinking, often because of fabricated realities such as hallucinations, imaginary situations, and warped memories. And they don’t just worry about inequality, starvation, or wars. On the other hand, if you live a life wherein your high intelligence was regularly rewarded, then it’d be quite easy for you to skew in the other way and develop a bit of an inflated ego and sense of self. In many cases these … detrimental development of the frontal lobe, This Is Why All Couples Should Consider Couples Counseling, How Not To Beat Yourself Up Over Mistakes, The Most Common Types Of Anxiety Disorders. This is why I sort of steer clear of movies and films that I know are going to be depressing. There’s a common tendency to see artistic, mathematical, or scientific geniuses as “sulky” creatures. They called these children the “termites.” It wasn’t until the 90’s that they started to draw some important conclusions from the study. Ultimately, being intelligent is not glamorous. What Does Science Say About Intelligence? According to information provided by Business Insider, a study conducted by Justin Kruger and David Dunning proved that people who are not that intelligent, tend to overestimate their abilities. Every case is unique, and a little different. So, let’s turn to the flip side of the coin. Why Gifted Children Are Prone to Existential Depression . Experts now believe they all may have shared the same mental condition, which supports the theory that people with developed intelligence may be more susceptible to mental conditions, like depression. It’ll be better to think of it all from a different angle – it’s not that being smart makes you depressed, it’s that being smart often comes with certain other qualities that can easily lend themselves to falling into a depression. Because intelligent people are more prone to depression.. They’re self-deceptions, serious errors in perception. I always cry. But is there anything truth to all that? Being intelligent is great, but it does have some real downsides, according to science. That brings us to another conclusion: maybe we should add another factor to IQ. Another school of thought is that depression and intelligence are related, but depression causes a low IQ "to show up" so to speak. These traits can also predict your behavior and…, You can't talk about learning without talking about the educational system. It’s true what they say,... 3. The group became known as the “Termites” and consisted of 1,500 pupils with IQs above 140. Getting out of that way of thinking only becomes harder the longer you’re in it because you stop trying at a certain point. This site uses cookies only to collect information about how visitors uses our site. After all, you’re intelligent; understanding things and being imaginative or creative or critical is not “supposed” to be difficult. Why Do People Struggle To Understand Depression? However, there is indeed a certain predisposition towards excessive worry, self-criticism, and a distorted, usually negative, worldview. Are There Problems with Our Students, or Our Educational System? On the contrary, as it exists in most places across the globe, school is only making children stupid and depressed. In fact, hundreds of stories seem to confirm…. Why? Even Aristotle showed us in his time that intelligence goes hand-in-hand with melancholy. They can be smart, average, introverted, extroverted, and capable of great works of art or artistically challenged. I'm a crier. The survey of Mensa’s highly intelligent members found that they were more likely to suffer from a range of serious disorders. Or, you could land in unsavory familial and social circumstances, such as abuse and bullying – which only aggravates the condition, or could trigger it. There is a link between high intelligence and lower levels of life satisfaction. But no matter how smart you are, there will be things that you don’t get. Since mental illness often comes with a higher emotional sensitivity, smarter people suffering from depression and other illnesses also have a greater ability to “tune into” the suffering of others, to be more empathic, to have a greater understanding of the human psyche and that whole spectrum of creative study. IQ as a proper correlating factor for depression. Here’s Why Diversity Is Good For Your Mental Health, The Best Mobile Apps For Mental Health And Wellness. Outside factors are typically trauma, both physical and emotional, and often childhood trauma. Some possible context: when we perceive something as smart it usually means someone is cutting out the BS in his/her reasoning, dropping etiquette or social conventions. Inside factors include genetics, brain chemistry (that may not have anything to do with the head gear you inherited), and environmental factors (affecting the way your brain works). In 1921, a psychologist named Lewis Terman used and IQ test to identify a group of highly intelligent children in California schools. Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, and Vincent Van Gogh all took the frightening step of ending their own lives. The survey covered … As to why we get depressed, there are many inside factors and outside factors. These are factors that tend to lead to issues with depression because you’re more likely to skew your thoughts towards cynicism and negativity with time – especially if you lack the emotional support and positive experiences needed to affirm a more positive image of both yourself and the world around you. Perhaps it’s the ostracizing of higher intelligence in social settings, especially in childhood, that leads to a lack of social contact and feelings of depression and lower self-worth – smarter students sometimes get bullied into a depression. 11 Reasons It’s Hard Being Intelligent 1. How to use depressing in a sentence. You’re depressed. Here comes the all important concepts you must understand! Still, it’s worth checking out what the research says, and what it could mean. They come in all shapes and sizes, personalities and flavors, and from all kinds of familial circumstances. Experts tell us that highly intelligent people sometimes develop dissociative personality disorder. I don't need to watch them, because I don't want to be depressed, and I … That’s because there’s research for and against the correlation, so it’s just a lot safer to say that it doesn’t really matter. Think of Hemingway, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Edgar Allan Poe, even Amadeus Mozart. I don't care how many awards they've won - I know they're good. Navrady, LB, Ritchie, SJ, Chan, SWY, Kerr, DM, Adams, MJ, Hawkins, EH, … McIntosh, AM (2017). While there is some truth to the term “ignorance is bliss”, it doesn’t mean that you’re incapable of recognizing a bad situation just because your intelligence is below average. Intelligence and depression is not an obvious correlation. Granted, a lot of them achieved fame and important positions in society. There is also a case to be made for creative or emotional intelligence and mental illness. Being cooped up on a small cage, being moved from time to time, etc. Emotional Intelligence and Personality as Predictors of Psychological Well-Being. Sure, life is hard and unfair, but it helps to look at things in a multitude of perspectives, different contexts and draw a positive conclusion for personal growth. In other words, depression lowers a person's ability to perform. They always analyze bigger problems that they can’t solve in their mind. In no sense is this information intended to provide diagnoses or act as a substitute for the work of a qualified professional. They often think … Intelligent people feel cursed by their intelligence. Sickness and severe pain can also trigger depression in your guinea pigs. Intelligent people have high standards. However, there is also a lot of research that shows that depression actively leads to a detrimental development of the frontal lobe, ultimately affecting your intelligence and lowering your IQ because you’re simply too depressed to think straight, or can’t complete certain cognitive tasks anymore. It’s also important to remember that statistics are statistics, research is research – it helps give an overall picture of a diagnosis, but it should never trump actually exploring an individual’s case on its own. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock. Explore the services in Ventura county drug rehab. And let’s not forget that there are much larger factors at play when discussing depression, specifically brain chemistry and emotional/social circumstances. Perhaps it’s because you’re more likely to live in your head, overthink things and worry when you’re smart enough to do so. A lot of the time they don’t have emotional skills to find peace in this confusing world. The things out of sync, the egotistical parts of the world, a world they can’t fit in. In trying to define intelligence, there's some consensus around the idea that people are intelligent because they're good at solving problems. One possible reason is because lower intelligence means it’s harder to complete job-related tasks, and thus get into a decent financial standing. However, there have always been silent, misunderstood, solitary geniuses living in their own little worlds. Recent research shows a direct correlation, not between depression and intelligence, but between bipolar disorder and intelligence. It's difficult to determine the impact of a tough upbringing on adult relationships,…, Self-abuse is the opposite of self-esteem and is much more common than we'd think. Same with women. All this does it further confuse the matter – but it also gives some interesting insight into how depression affects the brain. It’s not an accurate portrayal of reality – but it’s not quite a psychosis, either (although mind you, some cases of depression can come with psychotic symptoms). In our society we have brilliant people that make the most of their potential by investing not just in their own life, but in society itself. There’s another side of high IQ that we don’t always talk about. This is the reason why they have a tendency to feel depressed. If we try to reduce the scope of depression or pair it to any one thing that isn’t an explicit factor, we risk losing the progress we’ve made in understanding this complex mental illness. They Find It Harder To Be Happy. Socrates. Beyond that, depression exists on a spectrum where you can go from very mild depressive symptoms, such as a lack of appetite or motivation, to much more severe symptoms such as thoughts of worthlessness and suicide. There’s existential angst, social isolation, emotional problems or continuous dissatisfaction from not reaching the high objectives a person with such capacities sets. … Popular culture portrays highly intelligent men and women as moody, secretive people who have so much going on in their minds that they are mentally always on edge. Getty. I cry at the dumbest things, too. Every single adult in the world was obviously a child…, The main characteristic of schizoaffective disorder is that there are symptoms of schizophrenia alongside symptoms of a mood disorder (for example,…, Like the extraordinary human beings that we are, we crave success. Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickenson, and Vincent Van Gogh all had highly developed intellects. The results showed that highly intelligent people are 20% more likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 80% more likely to be diagnosed with … So what highly intelligent people often do is exclusively focus on what their environment is missing. Depression isn’t a mental illness that changes what people said or how things worked out, but rather, it’s like a filter that sucks the joy and purpose out of every little aspect of life. Intelligent people more at risk of mental illness, study finds ... Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. By continuing to navigate this site, you accept our use of cookies. The answer had to be a bit long this time. Another thing we can deduce about highly intelligent people is that they are often lacking in one critical area: emotions. 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