High IQ and Therapy?

What's this based on? You think the average person has good emotional intelligence (not sure if that's the best phrase; maybe referring to healthy emotional behavior or emotional awareness?)? I think it depends on how you were raised, socio-economic conditions, environment. Most people have faults in their persona whether large or small.

There's a difference between someone who goes to therapy to improve themselves due to trauma, inadequate behavior, etc. and someone who sees a psychiatrist for an organic brain disorder like manic-depression, anxiety disorder, personality disorder, etc. What type of treatment are you referring to?

I don't understand how IQ can be related to therapy. Some intelligent people have trouble improving themselves thru therapy and some don't, I suppose. I know some Psychiatrists like to interfere with treatment by playing mind games with patients, that's for sure. I've been to Psychiatrists who have lost their license because they engaged in unethical practices and lots of Psychiatrists who just plain do not like listening to patients and hate their jobs.

I think "most" people have the capacity for high IQ. One just has to "learn how they learn" and helped to develop it and at the same time develop self esteem and emotional balance. The human brain is so receptive to learning.

cool09, some people can be extremely intelligent and at the same time very socially awkward, or behind too or can't seem to interact when it comes to negotiations so overall social development can actually move forward. Brilliance doesn't go very far without
"true" people skills/ social skills.

Therapy is about the big picture, about being able to merge things ignoring what doesn't fit. Like if your therapist says 7 good things and 3 things that he/she got terribly wrong, you should be able to just accept the total as good.

I'm so not like that. It feels like a lie to me to accept something that isn't perfect in that sense. I don't have it in me to ignore things.

If I know something better than my therapist and they refuse to learn (I seem to be able to hold more info than most people) I see that as a deal breaker.

Sure I am high IQ as well but the traits above is what makes me a bad therapy candidate.

Plus people heal from just bonding. I don't usually bond with people unless they are on my level and I knew them over five years. Others seem to bond easily. Call that poor EQ if you will.

To me it all falls back to that old saying "it's lonely at the top." The smarter one is, the fewer as-smart people are around with whom a natural intellectual connection can be made. This turns everything into more of a needle in the proverbial haystack: partners are harder to find, friends, and certainly therapists.

As far as emotional intelligence goes, I think this varies on both ends of the I.Q. spectrum, for a variety of reasons; some common throughout, and some more particular to the complications of being towards either end. However, at least by my own observation, there is a "sweet spot" or area on the I.Q. scale, at which a most ideal balance is struck for success in the various contrivances of modern society, and it's actually quite a few points below the top end. Which is not to say that it's at all impossible at other "spots"; only that there is an area in which it glides a bit more, with the mind active but not so swimming with thoughts that it is as easily consumed.

I have met a few very intelligent doctors (which I am using as a description separate from how qualified or knowledgeable or even how effective any of them are) who as a natural outreach of their intelligence understood the value of honoring collective intel, and as someone who carries a bit, this is an ability I very much appreciate. I have not yet met a psych practitioner who has sufficiently or even moderately honored my intellect and knowledge. I suppose it's not part of the "practice" and hence trained out of the schematic; as hankster had alluded to earlier, there is a desire not to reveal the methods, so that the "magic" can work. If only that worked for me; I sort of can't keep a straight face attempting to pretend to be unaware of what's happening, if I could even manage to do it.

"If only that worked for me; I sort of can't keep a straight face attempting to pretend to be unaware of what's happening, if I could even manage to do it." quote vonmoxie

I can relate to this. This is because the "hyper aware" is not going to "just" follow along and it is better for the therapist to be open and honest with you. There can be no therapy that even remotely resembles any kind of "gaslighting", even if the gaslighting is a therapy the therapist "thinks" may be helpful, nope, ain't going to work with a PTSD patient.

Personally, I need someone I can connect with, trust and feel comfortable. Regardless of IQ. Measured IQ placed aside... complete idiot emotionally here Nothing like analyzing your podc and having them become insecure. Happened here, rofl

When I was about 11 years old, I was placed in foster care because my parent was deemed unfit. I had always been in "gifted" classes and such, and it was policy to test all the kids going into foster care at that time. Because I was so young and scored so highly at that time, my agency decided to work with the area mental health system to find a "special therapist" who was trained in helping "gifted kids" with trauma. The therapist they had me see became my rock throughout my teens, until I left for university.

I haven't had a therapist since then, but I remember before him, all the other therapists would always ask me things like "Do you think that most people you talk to can't understand your thoughts on things?" and "Are your thoughts too much to handle?", so I feel like they are trained to deal with different intellects, I suppose. My primary therapist after them didn't need to say things like that, haha.

I have never found a psychologist who does not treat me like a like a child except my psychology instructor in university, the former I dismiss automatically as unable to provide meaningful help. My instructor on the other hand realized my intelligence level quickly and treated me like an equal, even going so far as to use one of my papers in the next edition of a university textbook.

Why did the others treat me like a child; because I am short and very young looking for my age. I think my IQ was higher than all of them combined.

I hope this made sense, I'm not feeling well (again).

That's obvious. But the OP stated that all people with high IQ have low emotional intelligence. No truth to that. Emotional disconnection or awareness runs across the entire spectrum. It has no correlation to high or low IQ, etc.

I have the utmost respect for good therapists. A good therapist has a natural desire to help people and has put the hours and sincere motivation into studying, absorbing and practicing the skills and knowledge necessary to be a good therapist. Whether he or she got a B+ or an A+ on tests is beside the point, ultimately, and I say that based out of my life experience and my acknowledgment of my own IQ. Most people have all the intelligence they need and I think you are fooling yourself if you think your IQ is standing in the way of effective therapy. It is likely something else working against your own best interests and it would be good for you to explore what it is with the eye to being the most healthy, happy you, you can be.

You might immediately scoff at what I have written. But for you or anyone else who thinks you're too smart to be helped I encourage you to be willing to put your smartness aside long enough to work with the therapist, whose only goal should be for you to improve your life.

To me it's not my IQ or the therapist's IQ, it's whether we make that connection necessary for good therapy to happen.

Maybe...But IQ isn't anything to really be proud of, any more than a shoe size. And it may have some benefits, but it is no guarantee of success, and there are drawbacks.

I'm the OP and I don't believe I made any reference to EQ. I do think people with high IQ's tend to be misunderstood. And that can make for a lonely life.

I've tested with high I.Q, and I've found that the worst thing I can do is tell people. They always get a belligerent attitude and looking to trip me up. It's hard to socialize as few want to talk on your level, as I'm sure you know. But, even with smarts, there is the situation of the inner child who feels separate and perhaps way behind you in understanding and ability to cope with life.

I'm very careful with my T, not to sound superior or put her on the spot, because I desperately need her to help me with the child inside who functions more on the level of a two yr. old.

What helps me most to know what's what in the world of therapy is to read the works of those therapists who followed Freud and modified his theory. Those would be Bowlby, Balint, Winnicott, Melanie Klein, etc. You can read much of this about modern "objects relations" and "psychodynamic relationship therapy" on-line, or buy the books from Amazon. From there, I learned what I needed in the way of treatment, then questioned my T to see if she aligns with those.
The most important knowledge, though, was not to intellectualize away the therapy hour but get to the inner child problems. The Transference situation was ( and still is) vital in my therapy. I'm sure you, Shakespeare, are able to understand the books and also incorporate the Transference meanings. (I capitalize Transference to make a difference from it's non-therapeutic meaning). I don't mean to talk down to anyone here, believe me. It always feels like I sound stuffy! I'm just saying what has helped me. I've been on the forum awhile and feel much empathy for everyone.

I'm at the point now, where I see high IQ as a problem. I look at the world differently. Thanks for the book recommendations. How long have you been reading on the subject? I feel like I'm getting help, and I'm not sure how much I want to know about the inner working of psychotherapy.

What I'm really interested in right now is philosophy. One of the many things is deals with is epistemology. How do we know what is true?

This list of 'gifted' traits describes ASD which I have.



I don't think IQ really affects therapy all that much. Introspection seems to be what really matters (at least for me it does).

"How do we know what is true?"
Use scientific method.

^looks pretty good. or are you suggesting that it is circular.. and therefore pointless?

Riddle me this... how does one determine the difference between opinion and truth?

Cool. I'm pretty good at introspection... I think. it's hard to be objective about it.

It was the opinion of many that the Earth was flat.
In time the Earth proved to be a sphere.
Irrefutable proof is the difference between opinion and fact

As our awareness and understanding increases we discover that things we once held as true were just opinions, speculations and theories deduced from our understanding of the so-called facts as we formerly understood them.

Sounds pretty good... irrefutable proof. Is there any such thing? If there were, then wouldn't people accept such things as evolution and global warming... and science in general?

What can we know to be irrefutably true?

I feel the opposite, that I am mentally deficient and that therapy is therefore wasted on me.

I do not find that sort of statement from a therapist useful. If the therapist ****ing wants to help me, then she can explain what the **** she is doing and then I can decide to go along with it or not. Their attempt at mystery crap pisses me off. So I go see another one, describe the situation, the other therapist says "therapists do X for these reasons" and then I go back to the first and say okay or never do that again.
The woman did once try telling that she is not my enemy. I responded by telling her to stop acting like it.

I do not believe in absolute truth. I think it is all relative.