Gifted children are often identified by their insatiable curiosity, advanced mental ability, intensity, and thought-provoking questions. But what happens when these children become adults? What are they like and do they have any particular mental health needs? This paper uses a case study of one particular gifted adult to explain the typical issues these clients bring into counseling.
Most of us can recognize precocious children by noticing any or all of the following: thought provoking questions, advanced vocabulary, avid reading, unstoppable curiosity, creative thinking, and unusual mental, academic, and/or musical abilities. If weve worked with them in our counseling offices, or raised them, we find other traits, including advanced empathy, intense emotion, hypersensitivities, and perfectionism.
The concept of giftedness, especially in adults, is unclear, complicated and controversial. Typically, we associate giftedness in adults with high levels of achievement, but the gifted person may be a rebel, a valedictorian, a CEO, or a Nobel prize winner. In adults as well as children, giftedness affects cognitive, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being; it is a set of traits that bring both blessings and burdens.
Over many years of clinical work certain recurring issues arise: painful schooling experiences, high sensitivity and intensity, existential depression or advanced empathy, perfectionism, multipotentiality, and relationship difficulties. Recognizing and explaining these traits to clients can profoundly affect therapy outcomes.
Case Background
Susan knew she was different since she was seven. Her appetite for learning was insatiable and she worried about poverty, world peace, and environmental loss. No one explained that she was different because she was gifted. Forty-five years later, at 52, reading about gifted children helped her recognize herself and led her to therapy.
At intake Susan displayed notable intensity: anxious, skeptical, yet engaging. She sought help to understand how giftedness affected her work and relationships and to find ways to handle anxiety, loneliness, communication, and marital strain.
Schooling
Many gifted adults recall painful schooling: being reprimanded for working ahead, feeling bored, or suffering silently despite occasional supportive teachers. Therapists should validate grief, anger, and self-doubt stemming from lost potential and wasted opportunities.
Sensitivities/Intensity
Multiple sensory sensitivities are common: heightened hearing, visual and tactile sensitivities, and strong reactions to environments. These traits are often pathologized. Counselors can help by brainstorming practical coping strategies, normalizing the experience, and highlighting the advantages of developed sensory awareness.
Gifted clients may overwhelm others with intensity in speech, emotion, and energy. Validating the experience and helping clients seek peers and situations where they can express themselves is useful. Therapists should also be transparent when they feel confused or off-balance, since gifted clients are likely to notice.
Existential depression/advanced empathy
Existential questioning can begin early and persist, sometimes leading to depression if unacknowledged. Deep empathy can cause somatic responses to others pain and strong intuitive reactions. Therapists should listen carefully, recommend intellectual communities, and suggest practices such as meditation, yoga, and connecting with nature. Finding meaningful ways to help others can soothe intense worry.
Perfectionism
Gifted individuals often hold very high standards. While perfectionism can produce extraordinary outcomes, it can also create conflict and fear of failure. Therapists can help clients prioritize projects, examine family-of-origin dynamics, and address procrastination patterns rooted in fear of disappointing others.
Multipotentiality
Many gifted clients have diverse interests and may craft careers that allow variety, meaning, and independence. Therapists can assist clients in designing careers aligned with values and in grieving paths not taken.
Relationships
Gifted adults frequently struggle to find peers with similar depth and complexity, leading to loneliness. Clients may find peers through work or broader networks; nontraditional relationships across location, age, or gender can be enriching. Couples counseling may help when differences in functioning cause strain.
Conclusion
Therapy that validates gifted clients experiences, explains associated struggles, and offers coping strategies can allow clients to embrace authenticity, balance compromises, and pursue meaningful, passionate lives. Understanding giftedness enables better connection, reduced loneliness, and improved therapeutic outcomes.
References
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