We are too. Intelligence testing was part of the multifaceted diagnostic process we went through last year and our IQ result was very high. I don't say that to brag at all because the score certainly isn't reflected in our life. There are a couple of parts that are very intellectual and I do believe they are very smart but there are other times when this people-body can't figure out how to say even the simplest grammatically correct sentence.

I do think intelligence was probably the defining characteristic that enabled us to be functional enough to live independently (have a home, maintain a job etc). When we went through the resiliency factors that play a part in determining the outcome of a traumatic childhood we had none of them (things like one supportive person, someone outside the family who listened to you, one person who believed in you) but I told the t the one thing we did have was that we were intelligent and we knew that what that family did to us was wrong. So we were able to not take on the crap they threw at us and take is as truth. We were able to see a picture that was much bigger than the one they wanted us to believe and keep some parts of ourself fully separate and protected from them.

I put that down to intelligence through and through. Most children believe whatever they are told before the age of six. They just take it in and make it a part of themselves. We remember looking at that family and assessing them as "wrong" as young as two years old. Of course for survival purposes we were completely dependent on them so had to have parts that played along with their wrongness for the sake of our immediate safety. But we sure as heck kept our self belief away from them and didn't let them get all of us!

I truly believe if we didn't have high intelligence we would not have been able to protect ourselves as well as we did and we would be far far less functional than we are.

How do you think high intelligence has helped you? And another question which you are welcome to not discuss if it is triggering for you - were your family members highly intelligent too?