Giftedness & Depression

Gifted youth often are susceptible to depression, overwhelming sadness or emptiness. They struggle with depression, are preoccupied with suicide or plagued by feelings of worthlessness and guilt. It often results from their inability to reconcile the inner self with the socially acceptable masks they don. Several areas contribute to depression in the gifted.

Angst

• Described as existential dread or angst by Søren Kierkegaard in "The Concept of Anxiety" (1844), a gifted youth often describes fearing the future because the path is not laid out for him: it requires his making choices that have no clear outcome. He dreads freedom of choice itself.

Neurotic Perfectionism

• A contributing factor may be perfectionism. Seeking to attain perfection is not inherently bad or unhealthful, but neurotic perfectionism evinces the fear of failure. When the gifted child has unattainable goals due, not to intellect, but to her present situation, she may experience depression from neurotic perfectionism.

Emotional Sensitivity

• The gifted youth often is acutely aware of his environment, everyone around him and inside himself. This heightened emotional sensitivity makes him receptive to new ideas and open to creativity, but it also makes him aware of heightened social tension and anxiety, causing him to misperceive adult expectations. He becomes vulnerable to criticism, suggestion and emotional appeal. His capacity to empathize and feel compassion makes him vulnerable to feelings of social injustice on behalf of others who may not feel it on their own.

Identity Diffusion

• A gifted youth is constantly aware of how she differs from most peers. She recognizes the cultural value of conformity, so she masks her giftedness, developing alternative identities to become socially acceptable. She constantly confronts the dilemma of choosing between being socially accepted and pursuing her intellectual desires. Unable to be herself, she tries on various roles, seeking to resolve her social and intellectual needs but not developing her true identity.

Self Love

• The process of self love involves several stages: self-awareness, locating kindred spirits, feeling accepted and understood by others, accepting self, recognizing differences in other and developing an appreciation of others and their differences. Gifted youth, stunted in the development of self-love, frustrated in finding kindred spirits and understanding by others, experience a resultant depression.

Philosophical Nurture

• By their nature, the cognitively gifted often pursue philosophical and moral speculation. Seeing problems requiring solutions, but unable to affect the solution, leads to feelings of impotence.

Emotional Acceptance

• Unlike athletes, whose prowess we celebrate publicly, or the beautiful, who we celebrate with contests and crowns, rarely do we open celebrate the intellectually brilliant for her differences. Studies show that gifted children will pursue creative and intellectual areas unassisted, but need assistance in developing social and emotional acceptance through active involvement by others choosing to accept and celebrate their differences.