[SophiaG]

Hi Psychcentral!

I was wondering why Psychcentral doesn't have a forum or a subforum for giftedness. This population experiences issues related to this such as loneliness and social difficulties.

It would be nice to see a subsection on here so that they could be recognized.

-SophiaG

I don't think people will like that. I once put a list of diagnoses, including giftedness, in my signature and I received a lot of heat.

[SophiaG]

Originally Posted by Breadfish

I don't think people will like that. I once put a list of diagnoses, including giftedness, in my signature and I received a lot of heat.

Gifted people get that heat and scorn in many many places. All the more reason for this subforum to exist.

[Artchic528]

Gifted? How so? Are we talking about Savants? Or Mensa? Perhaps we are talking about those gifted in the ways of the paintbrush?

Honestly, I feel that being "gifted" is subjective as "average" isn't so easily defined. I also feel that by addressing oneself as being "gifted" only serves to further alienate oneself from the world as others would feel that the person in question is self indulging or implying they are superior. A symptom of NPD perhaps?

[tradika]

This is not the topic of this forum/community. If you want a community for giftedness, then you should probably look on a MENSA forum or something like that. I am sure they exist.

[Artchic528]

Originally Posted by tradika

This is not the topic of this forum/community. If you want a community for giftedness, then you should probably look on a MENSA forum or something like that. I am sure they exist.

Well put.

[TishaBuv]

I take it you are referring to the Gifted program in schools. You'd be best posting in School and Study Issues forum or in Relationships and Communications if the post pertains to friction caused in relationships due to it. Gifted is given an IEP plan in school just like a disability.

[TishaBuv]

Originally Posted by tradika

This is not the topic of this forum/community. If you want a community for giftedness, then you should probably look on a MENSA forum or something like that. I am sure they exist.

Are we limiting subjects here?

[Tsukiko]

I thought the same thing. We have subjects for nearly every topics you can think of, so I'm not sure why this would be any different.

Also. I'm not sure how the thread went from asking why we don't have a gifted forums to someone implying that the original poster has NPD. If someone doesn't have anything constructive to say, there's no point in saying anything at all.

Originally Posted by TishaBuv

Are we limiting subjects here?

Perhaps you could create a social group here for gifted individuals if it really interests you?

[SophiaG]

Yeah everyone just got super insecure super fast on this thread.

Okay.

This is exactly the kind of treatment that ostracizes those that are gifted.

[Tsukiko]

Please forgive the lack of consideration that has taken place in this thread, Sophia. As scaredandconfused pointed out, you could start your own group for those who are gifted.

Originally Posted by SophiaG

Yeah everyone just got super insecure super fast on this thread.

Okay.

This is exactly the kind of treatment that ostracizes those that are gifted.

I like your idea.

[unaluna]

There ARE a lot of gifted people on PC, if not the great majority. Its that fine line between genius and madness! For myself, figuring out my social problems was more related to the psychological problems that resulted from my iq. So - it was family jealousy that was the issue, not that i could speak x languages or stg. So i would rather talk about family jealousy than foreign languages here, for example. And jealousy can come from any source, not just iq.

Originally Posted by unaluna

For myself, figuring out my social problems was more related to the psychological problems that resulted from my iq.

I would also find it useful to discuss these sorts of things as well in a safe place. Being gifted was one of the factors that messed me up with normal interaction with my peers from a young age. And despite ability, without social adeptness, you don't make it far in the world. This has contributed to my low self esteem and depression. I don't want to be gifted if I'm forced to be ashamed of it. I certainly didn't choose this and neither did anyone else!

I'm glad this thread was made and I also think a group would be a good idea. I also don't want to go into anymore detail here as a few of the responses on this thread have led me to question if the general forum is a safe place for this discussion.

[bornunderabadsign]

My only question is how would anyone know who is gifted and who is not? Is there going to be a entrance exam?

[unaluna]

Originally Posted by bornunderabadsign

My only question is how would anyone know who is gifted and who is not? Is there going to be a entrance exam?

Fortunately there are different forms of giftedness. If someone is gonna bs their way on, i hope theyre gifted at bsing, or at least likeability!

Do you mean like a subforum to discuss their own social and mental problems as if their issues are separate from the rest, or to discuss specific gifts and talents? For the latter I believe there is a subforum in the General subforums related to Creativity. I don't think the former can be done without generating some feelings that some people consider themselves superiors to others by their own evaluation.

Many gifted people (have) lived a lonely and miserable life. It seems that there is a correlation between the two, but I'm reluctant to call it a causal relationship. I'm not sure if I'm gifted (it's not objective to evaluate oneself). I definitely don't see myself so. However, I know that I think differently, and that what separates me from the pack.

Originally Posted by SophiaG

Yeah everyone just got super insecure super fast on this thread.

Okay.

This is exactly the kind of treatment that ostracizes those that are gifted.

That's kind of mean, don't you think?

I mean if your intent is to not feel so ostracized, then why would you point out that others are acting insecure? It seems a bit counter-intuitive to me.

I think it might be a good idea to start your own group in order to find others like yourself.

I don't really agree with the "gifted" label though as there are many different kinds of intelligence (9!...probably more), and one might argue that "gifted" people, while heads and shoulders above others in terms of, lets say, book smarts, are lacking in other types of intelligence that aid in social integration. Would that be interpersonal intelligence?

Maybe call it the high IQ group? That would narrow it down to one of the types of intelligence, right? Which I think is what you're getting at.

Just my 2 cents.

I always wanted to know why their wasn't a subforum for agoraphobia

it's so popular

they just have general anxiety

but why not have general anxiety, subforums, agoraphobia and health anxiety

the other thing i was never sure on was why their was never a subforum for self harm success stories

hmm

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by TishaBuv

I take it you are referring to the Gifted program in schools. You'd be best posting in School and Study Issues forum or in Relationships and Communications if the post pertains to friction caused in relationships due to it. Gifted is given an IEP plan in school just like a disability.

I think school and study forum would be a good place to discuss this.

As previously written there are different kinds of intelligence. My son is gifted in math and spatial relationships but has a learning disability in written language.

[TishaBuv]

"Gifted" is a word used to describe; she was a gifted artist, for example. Or it is a program in schools in the US, "Gifted", as in the Gifted Program. Entry to the program requires IQ above 135 generally and need based on the student's performance. So which are we referring to? And why would we need a whole sub forum for this?

The School forum is adequate for posting about all study/school issues.

Where would one post about issues that come with being very good at something? They would post in the sub forum that the fall out pertains to. Like I said before, Relationships and Communications is a good general catch all.

Besides, there's lots of activity in those forums and posts will be more likely responded to.

[DocJohn]

Hi folks, thanks for the suggestion of a Giftedness forum.

What we primarily use to determine whether we create a new group is popular demand as shown by actual posts on the topic in question. I went to the school forum and looked for topics of giftedness and found very few such posts.

In cases where we don't believe there's sufficient demand for its own forum, we suggest you start a social group. If we then find demand from the social group sufficient, we can either create a social group forum, or a new sub-forum at that time to support the topic requested.

Thanks,
DocJohn

[seesaw]

Yeah, I'm not sure what kind of "gifted" you are referring to when you request a subforum for this. I was one of only a few students accepted into a prestigious grad school program, and have been considered "gifted" all my life for various reasons. I don't see the need for a separate subforum to discuss the issues that have arisen because of this. Most of those problems are interpersonal or relational, and I find get more traction in the Relationship forum. Besides, I wouldn't want to post in a forum of only other gifted people, because the problems that arise are between those that are "gifted" and those that are not. Therefore it seems like the feedback and support you would like would be best from a diverse group of people, who can identify with you in various ways.

Example: I post often on the Work and Careers forum. Other people have really different jobs than me, but we are still able to relate about co-workers, bosses, difficulties concentrating, etc., due to our illnesses. The job itself doesn't matter.