She’s A Doctor Of Clinical Psychology And Neuropsychology Who’s Discussing The Unique Psychological Problems That “Gifted People” Often Have To Face

Chip Chick |

Nov 25, 2023

Photo 125181536 © Fizkes - Dreamstime.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual person

Do you know someone who is considered to be a ‘gifted’ person?

According to the National Association of Gifted Children, gifted people “demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude or competence.” This means that gifted people have an exceptional ability to learn and often perform in the top 10%.

A psychologist recently went viral on TikTok after making an interesting video that takes a deep dive into the unique psychological problems gifted people often have to deal with.

Joey (@nd_psych) is a doctor of Clinical Psychology & Neuropsychology who makes a lot of informative content about people with autism. In her video on gifted people, she explains why they have their own set of psychological problems they have to deal with.

“I work with many gifted people, many of whom don’t believe they’re gifted,” says Joey at the beginning of her video.

“But they still have the psychological issues that are common in this population.”

Joey explains that the issues gifted people have to deal with aren’t necessarily related to their IQs but more so their personality structures.

She says that gifted people tend to question authority and ask embarrassing questions because they want to learn more about details that are often deemed inappropriate to ask about. Additionally, gifted people are nonconforming, which can lead to them feeling alienated and isolated from others.

“Gifted people also tend to be highly sensitive, highly empathic, and highly compassionate,” says Joey.

Photo 125181536 © Fizkes – Dreamstime.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person

“They can also have really strong moral convictions and be a seeker of an ultimate truth. Now imagine having that set of characteristics but not actually realizing that not everyone has those characteristics.”

Joey explains how she meets many people who don’t realize they are gifted and expect everyone to process everything in the same way they do or experience similar problems when, in reality, that’s not the case. This leads gifted people to over-analyze other people’s behaviors, assuming they operate on the “same level” as them.

When you try to point those things out to a gifted person, it can often lead to more problems.

“The gifted person, who doesn’t want to put themselves above someone else because they’re morally inclined, struggles to kind of make sense of how they are seeing things in a more complex manner,” says Joey.

“They basically don’t want to be arrogant. So, in order to accept oneself, they have to come to terms with the fact that they are actually different and they are actually seeing things on a deeper level.

That might make them feel like that’s not fair.”

Joey ends her video by stressing how important it is that everyone educate themselves on the psychological needs of gifted people, as many grow up to see that their being gifted is more of a disability than a special ability.

However, when gifted people are taught to accept themselves as unique and stop attempting to conform to other people, they may find true happiness.

Isn’t that really interesting? Thanks for the information, Joey!