High Ability

Many people in the arts are shy or introverted. Stanley Kubrick was called shy by one of his actors, and Nicole Kidman has said "I am really shy."

Career mentor Valerie Young notes You're especially prone to the Expert Trap if you mistakenly believe that competence and expertise are one and the same.

Many sensitive people have difficulty with being confident, but going too far toward egotism can interfere with personal growth and creativity.

Movies with gifted and talented characters may depict positive reactions to characteristics, but also some not so positive reactions to exceptional people.

By Sarah Swenson, MA, LMHCA

"One of the frequent sources of anxiety mentioned by clients in my specialty psychotherapy practice of working with intellectually gifted individuals is the fear of obliteration of consciousness at death.

"To them, Being and Nothingness is not just a thick book by Jean Paul Sartre. As a concept, it presents a nagging source of panic attacks for some, of restless nights for others."

Books by multiple authors on growing up gifted, and being an exceptional, gifted and creative adult.

Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD writes in his book "Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined": “In every way, and at every turn, I seemed out of sync with my peers. I was living in my own head, and consequently people treated me like I was disabled.” … “What is talent, really? Everyone throws the term around like they know what it means."

Linda Kreger Silverman, PhD, Director of the Gifted Development Center, says “Excellence is the hard-won prize of those whose zeal and dedication are fueled by the drive to attain perfection, as they envision it.”

But actor Mia Wasikowska commented, "Ballet started to grate – the whole idea of trying to attain perfection started to ruin the experience."

Eric Maisel thinks "For an artist, the absence of positive obsessions leads to long periods of blockage, repetitive work that bores the artist himself, and existential ailments of all sorts.”

High ability people may have problems with co-workers because of being more efficient, knowing more, and learning faster, which may create social tension.

Lupita Nyong'o, Jennifer Lawrence and many other highly talented actors are acclaimed for their intensity. An interviewer wrote: "All throughout our lunch, the part of Lawrence that never let up was a kind of intense engagement with the world or the person in front of her."

A personality trait that may often accompany high sensitivity (experienced by many, or most, gifted and creative people) is high intensity.

"When I was little I was labelled Gifted. There's such residual confusion mixed up with that phrase. I'm not bragging (there's nothing to brag about).

"What I realize now is that I wasn’t technically bored with the subject matter, I was apalled by the purpose.  I could sense I was being groomed for a profession.  Suddenly everyone’s focus, if not on getting drunk or laid, was the requirement that we pick a college and a major and a career.

"I’ve been suffering a perpetual mid-life crisis since I was 15."

“My first negative experience of being too smart was in fifth grade.” Jeanette

Of course, being exceptionally intelligent and creative has many pleasures and benefits – for individuals and society – but there are often challenges that go along with that exceptionality.

Many prominent high ability people may seem to almost magically choose whatever path they want, and realize their talents without hindrance. It is a myth.

Sally M. Reis, PhD notes that high potential and multiple interests, multipotentiality, can benefit many women [and men], but others “often cannot find their niche, make it on their own, or choose a vocational path." [Photo: Iris (Toni Collette) – a college grad working as an office temp, in the tragicomic “Clockwatchers”]