either a catalyst for empowerment and self-actualization, or it can be a predictor of dysregulation and painstaking debilitation.
Literature Review
Ruth Karpinski et al.’s “High Intelligence: A Risk Factor for Psychological and Physiological Overexcitabilities” evaluates the literature and mechanisms that are possibly rooted in the relationship between high intelligence and several psychological disorders–particularly depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and ADHD. The researchers compared data gathered from nearly four-thousand individuals who scored in the top 2% of intelligence tests to those from national surveys in order to analyze the pervasiveness of various disorders in those characterized by elevated intelligence (as compared to the average population). Essentially, the results illustrated that highly intelligent people are 20% more likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, 80% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, and 83% more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety. The article emphasizes that highly intelligent individuals generally have tendencies for “intellectual overexcitabilities” and hyper-reactivity of the central nervous system, which may lend heightened cognizance to those with high IQ–tending to their creative and artistic capacities. One aspect of highly intelligent individuals is that they are recognized for having a “broader and deeper capacity to comprehend their surroundings” (Karpinski et al.). However, this hyper-reactivity can also lead to deepening depressive states and compromised mental health.
Polish psychiatrist and psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski first coined the term “overexcitability”, the English translation of the Polish word “nadpobudliwosc”, meaning “superstimulatability”. He discovered that hyper-reactions and intensities occur with greater prevalence and of greater strength in the intellectually gifted compared to those with a normal or lower intelligence quotient (IQ). According to Dabrowski’s observations, gifted individuals have a tendency to show signs of nervousness, a condition which was observed to be relatively absent in the intellectually delayed. These types of individuals demonstrate a uniquely heightened way of experiencing and responding to their environment, particularly within five domains: psychomotor, sensory, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional. These overexcitabilities are found to be associated with personality development and observed symptoms of slight neuroses among them, such as depression and anxiety. The intense emotional responses that these individuals have to their environments can lead to increased rumination and worry–both of which are associated with higher cognitive ability. Rumination, a deep or considered thought about something, predicts the chronicity of depressive disorders and anxiety symptoms. A highly ruminative cognitive form demonstrates itself to be associated with increased vulnerability to major depression and contributes to symptom severity. On the other hand, worry is the proposed cognitive process that underlies general anxiety disorders and, as is the case with rumination, those who worry with more chronicity and severity score higher on intelligence tests. In particular, verbal intelligence happens to be a positive predictor of worry and rumination (in addition to being predictive of the severity of both processes).
In “The Association Between Major Mental Disorders and Geniuses”, Dr. Nicholas Pediaditakis recognizes temperament as a significant role when considering the relationship between intelligence and mental health. According to Pediaditakis, temperament is defined as “the particular inborn behavior propensities for each individual” which “represents the final brain structural reality” (Pediaditakis). It