If you’re reading this article, chances are you think you’re smart. Truthfully, we all think we’re intelligent at times. I mean, would you rather be called a genius or dumb person? Yeah. All of us want to be geniuses.We usually think of the highly intelligent as people who are destined for success and more opportunity-receiving than others. But what if there are some problems that are more likely to arise if you are bright?
According to research, there may be some problems smart people are more likely to have. So let’s count down six problems only smart people have.
High Energy
Have you had an intelligent friend who always seemed to be extremely intense and passionate for what they do? Perhaps they could go long hours without sleep because they were always hyper focused or excited on their work. Yeah. Me too.
Well, in the 1960’s, a Polish psychiatrist and psychologist presented the idea that being highly gifted is linked with psychological and physiological “over-excitabilities,” otherwise known as OEs. While OEs can display itself in varying ways, it is most often seen with a sudden high energy towards a certain situation or topic.
Characteristics of those with a dominant psychomotor OE may include:
1. Competitiveness
2. Compulsive organizing
3. Compulsive talking
4. Impulsive behavior
5. Physical expression of emotions
6. Preference for fast action and sports
7. Nervous habits
8. Rapid speech
9. Sleeplessness
But these OEs can often be seen and treated as a problem by teachers or parents with children who exhibit this behavior. It is unfortunate that intelligent students and children can often be mislabeled or punished due to over-excitabilities teachers or parents are unaware of. As research suggests:
“Gifted students who are frequently labelled as problematic because of their intense behavior should be given assistance in understanding and coping with their over excitabilities. This would help them to control and channel their intensity and sensitivity in a positive and meaningful way. Knowing the characteristics of these over excitabilities will prepare the teachers and parents of these overexcited students to minimize the conflict among the gifted students with their peers and teacher or parents,” (Rosadah & Aliza, 2010).
Overanalyze Thinkers
Have you ever admired someone for their intelligence, but noticed they always tend to overanalyze things? Well, I do this but let me just say that I’m not admired for this at all!! Anyway, this urge to analyze likely has a strong link to their intelligence.
This tendency to overanalyze may be connected to the hyper brain/hyper body theory, proposed by psychologist and researcher Ruth Harpinski and her colleagues. With its advantages and disadvantages, the hyper brain/hyper body theory states that being highly intelligent is connected to Dabrowski’s psychological and physiological “overexcitabilities.”
Because psychological OEs might cause an individual to constantly worry, and physiological OEs appear as a response to that stress, overanalyzing can often occur. Let’s say you receive a negative remark from someone you care about. Someone who is smart and also exhibits overexcitabilities may overanalyze the comment, causing physiological OEs in the form of the body’s stress response. Therefore, it means more stress and anxiety.
They could be creatively imagining all the scenarios and implied meanings from this one comment, while a normal person may shrug their shoulders and move on.
STRESSING OUT
Okay. Now, everything is gonna make sense! Harpinski’s studies add to this idea that those who have a high IQ and likely display overexcitabilities, are frequently anguish from stress.
With psychological OEs, people will often ruminate and stress on certain situations. Since physiological OEs appear from the body’s response to stress, when these two interact, it can cause both physiological and psychological dysfunction. The truth of it all is, the more you think and ponder on an idea, the more you may think of negative scenarios or problems, and therefore stress about them.
They Suffer from Psychological Disorders
This might sound crazy. Or maybe you expected it? Harpinski also conducted a study in which all her participants were members of the American Mensa, a “high IQ society” which requires all its members to have IQ’s in the top 2 percent.
The participants self-reported whether or not they were diagnosed with, or suspected they had, a range of mood disorders (depression, bipolar) and anxiety disorders (OCD, social anxiety disorder). Disorders included: “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and physiological diseases that include environmental and food allergies, asthma, and autoimmune disease.”
According to the study, “This implicates high IQ as being a potential risk factor for affective disorders, ADHD, ASD, and for increased incidence of disease related to immune dysregulation.”
So it might be a good idea to reach out to your ‘smart friend’ and see if they need someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, a friend to confide in. Because as shown so far, they may be going through a lot! What are you waiting for? Hit them up!
They Have High Expectations
Let’s think about this for a second. REALLY THINK. If you are noted as smart early on in childhood, odds are you have higher expectations of others that you intend to meet. You may even have these paramount expectations from none other than yourself.
People expect you to succeed and achieve nearly perfect scores on your tests because you displayed characteristics that deem you smart. Yeah. The pressure is REAL. So, meeting these expectations may hang as a bit of a burden upon your shoulders. And we all know from the points before, those expectations can cause you some serious stress if you don’t manage them effectively.
It’s best to take it one step at a time with whatever you do. Look towards the future, but don’t be discouraged if it’s not everything you thought it to be.
I’ve never heard of the word “schedule”
Ah, the despicable pleasures of insomnia…
-Wait, what? Oh yes!!
According to the results from research from Richard D Roberts and Patrick C Kyllolen, “evening-types are more likely to have higher intelligence scores.” Well, now I know why I’m not smart nor gifted. Yup. I’m a morning person.
While being a night owl may sound like a good thing, – and it can be! – there are some downsides to working through the night.
First, your schedule is likely messed up. Because smart people often like to work during the night. Moreover, they can work long-hours through the night without getting tired. But, because of this they may stay up through the night, and have to get up early for work.
If they don’t get the necessary sleep, they may feel tired and groggy when they do have to work during the day or when they are socializing with friends. If your sleep schedule is off, you likely won’t be feeling as alert and well-rested as your friends at 7:00am. Which means that morning picnic you all had planned? You may just feel the need to cancel. You’re too tired!
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Currently, I am a student of Fatima Jinnah Women University. With a burning passion for psychology, words, and dreams, I decided to abandon medical studies for humanities. These days, when I’m not listening to ballads, watching movies, or sitting down with a good novel, I am rigorously studying Hangul (Korean language) to satisfy my obsession for BTS and K dramas. I’m a thinking introvert and INFJ personality. Therefore, I like ‘me time’. My articles typically resonate with psychological well-being advice.