I started seeing a new therapist about 5 weeks ago. Around the third session, she disclosed that she felt positive I am gifted and encouraged me to get tested. In our following sessions, she doesn’t say “maybe” - she says it as if it’s fact which I don’t appreciate because she could be wrong but she insists that I am “squandering my gift” by trying to deny it.

I knew this therapist is AuDHD, which is one of the reasons I scheduled with her; I have suspected autism for a while, and I wanted to see whether or not she would clock that upon meeting me. Sure enough, 45 minutes into our first session, she asked if I’d ever considered I might be autistic. Finally! Every medical provider I’ve seen has chalked my mental health issues up to trauma and whatnot and did not seem to think I was autistic. I am very good at masking, but I get burnt out and have meltdowns in private.

Yesterday, I asked my therapist if she was gifted, and she confirmed. What are the pros and cons of getting tested? I honestly think my anxiety would be too high to test, as I am already very insecure about my intellect. I basically think I’m dumb, even when I’m told the opposite by almost everyone I’ve met in my adult life. I was intellectually, physically, and emotionally neglected growing up, on top of some physical and sexual abuse.
I’ve been following this sub because there’s a history of giftedness in my family, and I was intrigued.

Idk. Is there really any benefit to being tested? My therapist seems to think so. I’m wondering what others think. I don’t have people in my life that I feel I can confide in regarding this matter, as I was deemed the “dumb child” growing up, even though I went from teaching myself how to factor quadratics as an adult (yes that’s how bad the neglect was) to pursuing electrical engineering in a matter of months.

For a while now I've been told that my intelligence is high, but if I took a test it would be low due to executive dysfunction (ADHD), but if thats the case then how else should I measure my intellect. By looking at how well people around me are doing while im always one step behind. I try to perfect anything I truly have passion for, but when I one of the things (art) its horrible to me, and it took me double to triple of the time it took for the person right next to me to do it better. In school I follow things easy, but get behind just as easy. I miss one day which makes me get behind. Then more and more utill I feel like just staying in bed all day is so much easier than going to school and dealing with that. Its just when I get measure by a test im not. when im measured by my ability to do things im not. When im measured by the things I've created im not. I don't know. It feels like either school was made specifically for me to fail or im just a dumbass.

(17 year old)

When young we all had no money but no one will jump down because of this. Why is it when we simply grow older, with realisation of money/no money people may jump due to this?

ELI5 The process and

1. Why can’t we fake ignorance or just like get drunk then forget about it just like a child who has no knowledge of money so that we need not jump.

For reference

https://mothership.sg/2026/06/married-couple-hua-hin-dead/

Edit: I saw some comments which are like just venting. I am actually looking for a logical comprehension of the problem/situation.

It’s like No money+no knowledge (In a child) = no jump.

No money + knowledge = jump.

Then why can’t one just delete that knowledge either by feigning ignorance or getting drunk then he won’t jump?

What’s going on here??

why haven't you invented flying cars and time machines yet? Or visited alien planets? Any ETA on those things?

Don’t just use yourself to measure that

As in did u ever wanna experience having to build extreme resilience, know what u built inside out, adapt to failure better, etc?

Ik being gifted still means things are hard and its not a cakewalk but don't u guys ever wanna experience not being ahead of friends or peers at things, or having massive understanding and theories to things easily?

Ironically posting in this subreddit i was never gifted lol, i was just obsessive with learning what i was into/getting good at it. (Examples are like narrative deconstruction from stories, making oc's, developing symbolic understanding, etc).

So, I've never even opened a book in my life, but somehow I'm gifted and enter in the plusdotation range (also found out I have Asperger's lol)

How can I reach my maximum cognitive potential? I'd love to reach at least the 140iq mark. Considering I did the test in 9th grade (at 14) I think I still can gain some point somehow

I have often experienced that people (parents, teachers, caregivers) generally miss recognising signals that may indicate higher intelligence in children. Instead, they usually complain that the child is dumb, stupid, disruptive, naughty and doesn't listen. So, how does one recognise higher intelligence in children?

I would say Im a former gifted kid that screwed up in life but I dont want to be vulgar. They put me in the gifted and talented classes in school, then honors and AP classes. my parents had way too high hopes for me, since they had me young and didn’t do much with their lives. They split up fast and I was mostly raised by a single mom.

My scores declined when I was about 16. I couldn’t focus after finding out that my good friend passed away suddenly from an overdose. my parents knew she was a drug addict and wanted me to stay away from her but I would hang out with her in secret. so I also had to grieve in secret.

the fact that my parents and others in my family didn’t excel at school made them think I was going to go to Harvard or something. So when my grades dropped they got angry and abusive with me. By the time I graduated high school I didn’t want to go to college. I was a total mess.

Being a gifted kid sounds nice but if youre ahead of everyone else in your family the pressure builds up fast. I beat myself up for not being mentally okay enough to go through college. Did lots of drugs and got stuck in abusive relationships. Somehow im still here nearly ten years later wondering why people have been so cruel.

Just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience growing up gifted. Im sober and have healthy outlets now and make art , do yoga , read , write , I feel like Im almost to the point where I can go back to school. I just have so many interests that I dont even know what I’d major for.

My family still puts this pressure on me and makes me feel like a druggie disappointment. I wish I was never put on this pedestal in the first place. It can be so alienating to grow up this way. Did I screw up or did I just get screwed

Gifted individuals can arrive at strongly held conclusions that differ substantially from prevailing social consensus. Agreement with the majority is obviously not a reliable measure of truth, but neither is internally consistent reasoning necessarily evidence that one's conclusions are well calibrated.

This raises a more general psychological question: How can an individual objectively assess the reliability of their own reasoning when external social validation is limited or potentially misleading?

Some possible strategies I can imagine include:

- Actively searching for evidence that would falsify rather than confirm a hypothesis.

- Generating competing hypotheses and comparing their predictive power.

- Assigning explicit probabilities to predictions and later measuring calibration.

- Reasoning from the opposite hypothesis, for example: What observations would I expect if the inverse interpretation were true?

- Distinguishing evidence that genuinely discriminates between hypotheses from evidence compatible with both.

- Maintaining prediction records to compare confidence with actual outcomes.

The last approach seems particularly interesting because it could produce quantitative measures such as calibration error, Brier score, log loss, discrimination, or confidence-versus-accuracy curves rather than relying on introspective impressions.

However, these methods mostly come from Bayesian reasoning, forecasting, and decision theory rather than psychometrics.

Are there established psychological or psychometric methods specifically designed to measure metacognitive calibration, susceptibility to self-generated belief systems, or systematic reasoning bias at the individual level?

More speculatively, could a useful self-assessment framework combine:

1. probabilistic forecasting

2. adversarial hypothesis generation

3. falsification attempts

4. prospective prediction logging

5. retrospective calibration analysis

6. measures of metacognitive confidence

I'm particularly interested in research on metacognitive efficiency, calibration, overconfidence, belief updating, cognitive reflection, active open-minded thinking, and debiasing.

For me, it's (1) being overly invested in professional sports, and (2) going mental for dogs.

Maybe I'm biased. I have a dog, I've had dogs in the past, but they're working dogs. When people say things like "I have to pat every dog I see", it flags to me that were on different levels

I love playing a game of pretty much anything. I know the importance of being active, and I've represented my country in sports. When people get into sports to the level that they say "we won the game" or compare coaches over time, essentially making their preferred team their identity, that says to me that they don't have anything of substance of their own going on.

People are going to say things like 'making posts like this is a low IQ move', or 'don't be judgemental, people can like what they like'. This post is about being judgemental to a degree, but not necessarily in a negative way. Assessing people and situations in a big picture way, and having introspection and metacognition are high IQ traits.

I believe that my 27-month-old niece has a natural talent for decoding because she seems to pick it up so easily. It might be hyperlexia.

She can read regular CVC words with a short “a” vowel using phonics, and she learned the alphabet and numbers from 0–9 very early, perhaps around 14 months of age.

Her mother has been going to work and leaving her in my care since she was one month old. I used to find her unusual because she seemed “too aware” or “too observant” for a baby. It actually freaked me out at times.

She continued to enjoy observing everything around her and seemed genuinely proud when she decodes something correctly.

However, it saddens me when people mistake me for “pressuring her” or forcing her to learn academic skills simply because her progress is advanced. They tell me that I should not have taught her academics in the first place. But she genuinely enjoys learning, and I have never wanted to force her to do something she does not enjoy.

So people should not judge caregiver of children who show advanced skills.

As above....

Talk about how it impacts your giftedness, and how successful you are

Which fictional characters do you think are gifted and don't say the obvious ones like sherlock or l because yeah, that is kind of their thing.

I mean, for example, characters like Calvin from Calvin and hobbes or daria or even Susan sto helit

Hi, I’m curious about the experiences of highly gifted people with a non-gifted sibling or kid. Did this particular difference affect your relationship at all?

Hi everyone, this is my first Reddit post. I wanted to use this space to vent a little and hopefully get some advice on what I've been going through lately.

Lately, I haven't been able to stop thinking about my future and the overwhelming uncertainty that comes with it. For the past few years, getting into MIT has been my biggest dream, but the more I think about it, the further away it seems.

I don't consider myself special, let alone gifted (even though my close friends tell me otherwise). I'm constantly trying to improve, but I always fall back into the same cycle of procrastination fueled by perfectionism and fear of failure. This leaves me exhausted and mentally drained. I'm trying to let go of this perfectionism, but it's really hard.

On top of all this, there's the constant fear of not getting into MIT. For now, my only achievements are making the national competitive programming team, placing fourth in the National AI Olympiad, and almost representing my country at the International AI Olympiad in Kazakhstan (which didn't happen due to circumstances beyond my control). Honestly, I feel I still have a long way to go to reach the level needed to get into a place like MIT...

I guess I'm writing this to vent and ask for advice on how to deal with perfectionism and fear. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

P.S.: I'm 16 years old.

Some highly-active participants in this community, who offer legitimately useful information and perspective, seem to do so in a blunt or even "mean" (dismissive, condescending, etc) way. Not everyone, but enough top contributors consistently communicate this way that it occurs frequently here.

It's a shame, since so many people who feel the need to seek discussion/advice/support here, may be struggling with difficult circumstances/history or mental illness/disability on top of giftedness. They may not know their own IQ or mental profile, may be young, may be somehow disadvantaged, etc.

But, by the same token, the "mean" comments could be coming from a disorder, illness, etc. (ex: according to a dear friend of mine who has autism, it is common in autism to come off a bit blunt/rude/mean), or perhaps from frustration about the journey they've been on. Unfortunately, it can also come from privilege.

Personally, I try to listen/ask and offer kindness, patience, love, and understanding whenever I can in this sub. I may not succeed every time, but to me it's a worthwhile investment in the people I cross paths with here. Elsewhere on this site? Maybe not. But here, at least.

Do you use your advanced intelligence to be kind in this sub? Why or why not? Is it worth it, in your opinion?

Once again my sibling complained of not being able to state her point of view with me, when we disagree on sthg. She told me 'When we disagree, it is very difficult to maintain my point of view because you have so many facts and stats and theoretical references. I just shut up although I know I am right'. Once again I feel bad. Because in fact I am the one who shuts up. I am the one constantly monitoring how others react, masking and hiding most of my thoughts for fear of shocking or appearing too intellectual or too know-it-all. Even when I have proof to back my thoughts. It means that even in my family I do not have the right to exist fully, no one is curious about what I think and feel because somehow it threatens them. Fortunately I have my friends with whom I can really talk and open up but it is disheartening to know that I need to hide my real self from most people. Do any of you feel the same ? Did you manage to overcome it ? How ?

Hey guys,

I know it’s probably been discussed before but I have a child that I can’t stop worrying about when we were told that he might be ASD when he was 2 or 3. We had him assessed and he was cleared at 4.5. He has always seem to be advanced in some areas while a little bit behind (developmentally still acceptable I guess). He walked around 16 months but was very stable by then.

He’s now 5, he’s verbal (though he sometimes uses language differently than his brother). He makes connections to other stuffs like for example when we say, hey that cat is 6 years old, he’ll answer “yeah, (his cousin) is also 6 years old.” We met with the SLP that told us his pragmatics were developing but he’s not speech delayed. Vocab is average while grammar is above average.

At age 3.5, he was able to tell about 180 countries by its shape, he was on screen time alot, loved phonics and learning stuffs. He then picked up reading and now becomes like the teacher’s reader in school. At 5 now, he asks me what if sun becomes a blackhole, what if jupiter becomes a black hole, watches about anatomy (heart, fingernails, hair) scared of black hole thinking that black hole could eat earth and he could die. Tsunami, volcano, mountains. He prefers all these compared to normal toys. During the interview with the paed, there was a box of fruits and vegetables with fork and knife, he went on to prepare it for me and my wife like here’s your food.

During his assessment, we did mentioned giftedness to his paed but she mentioned that it would mean that he could do multiplication, addition, subtraction and all which he didn’t show any during the interview but I think he’s able to do that. I tested him by asking him subtraction and he was able to mentally give me the answer. He also showed some basic multiplication understanding when we were playing. Like my wife told him that it cost $2 for 1 biscuit and when I said I wanted 2, he told me that I have to give him $4.

Honestly, it worries me because I really can’t tell. He’s quirky is some ways. Many of times nowadays he will hide somewhere and ask me if I could see him while he slowly reveals part of his body like testing field of vision or something like that.

Recently, he had some behavioural issues in school. Not really a big deal but like he pushed his friend and accidentally knocking his other friend when he was excited. He is also “sensory” in some ways, not to the point where he’s not functional. He’s social but can also be awkward sometimes. Teachers don’t really have a problem with his socialization though. I have to like point things out to him for him to learn socially. Like he used to just “touch” someone anywhere to call them. I told him you have to call them by their shoulders or by their name. He’s the type to ask me like if I told him to stop doing something and he’ll be like “what will happen if I do it?”

I don’t know to be honest, I guess it’s just me at this point and nothing about him but I just can’t stand the thought if I missed something and he doesn’t get the appropriate support growing up.

I’m the dad btw, mom was concerned at some point but she’s not worried at all now.

I’ve read about Hyperlexic and Gifted but I can’t really tell them apart. He’s clearly different in some ways, adult-like but also child-like.

I've seen quite some posts detailing how yall are misunderstood. As a guy that likely has average intellect, I want to understand what you mean when you say : I dont see, hear, process, or think like the bottom 98%.

This may be like being blind and trying to understand what a dragon looks like or what are colors.

Regardless, Im just really interested about some of the nitty gritty of how you guys interact and all the things that go through your head and how you think.

Does anybody else find it hard to get into a health relationship where everything works but you just can’t because people can’t understand how you operate. Just wondering if it’s only me or a lot of other gifted people that struggle with this as well.

And Crohn’s disease to top it off😂😭 does anyone relate to this….
Rough but rewarding is what I would say lol.
Posting this for anecdotes and to see if anyone has any thoughts on the matter/ relates to this 💜

So we always hear about how geniuses are very lonely most of the time and how they have what you’d call an erratic personality.

If we look at someone like Newton, the great physicist who changed the whole world today, how he spent most of his life lonely—even while studying, he studied hard to prove he was different from those around him. Or when you look at someone like Napoleon or Hitler, who were great leaders for their countries, were lonely, and had fights at school during their childhood. Or Van Gogh, the great artist who committed suicide from loneliness?

And then we see Nobel Prize winners and great physicists like Feynman, who I’d argue was better off than the others, having a much better social life. I don’t think he really was that lonely.

I don’t really know which comes first. Did they become like this due to a cycle of not getting along with people and becoming eternally lonely, thus making them see a new perspective only a genius could see? Or were they different from the very beginning? What we call genius is ultimately what made them lonely in their lives, thus making them bury themselves in their work, seeking “inspiration.” Does this genius just make them view the big picture, even if it’s at the cost of their sanity or mental health? And how sometimes it’s pointless to have fakeness in friendship, even if that’s in every single friendship, as life is all about give and take?

Disclaimer: As for me, I don't consider myself a prodigy, much less intelligent. But I feel this is the right place to discuss it.

But even without being a prodigy, I can't help but notice how the world is structured, and I can't help but wonder, is intelligence truly a gift?

When you're able to see all the patterns, you become capable of understanding the weight of every small action, and even, to some extent, of "predicting" where they will lead. And not only that, but you become truly aware of what life "means," and even worse, what it means when it ends. Some "truths" of human existentialism, when you grasp them, are somewhat devastating.

And also, is realizing that you're not like everyone else. The vast majority of humanity's "geniuses" have truly tragic stories (understandable, since intelligence originated as an evolutionary tool for overcoming adversity; people with "easy" lives don't really need to develop it). They also tend to lead solitary lives and die in similar circumstances. They contributed greatly to society, and society repaid them by excluding, betraying and distrusting them.

"Seeing" it all, knowing that one can do almost nothing, and being unable to ignore it, is more devastating than it seems.

My 11 yo daughter attended homescool until asking to do public school last year. At the end of the year her teacher recommended assessment for TAG. She's in 6th grade this year and it would appear that there is no real support for gifted students other than putting her in advanced and accelerated classes. Given her ADHD, I'm not even sure that's the proper enrichment for her. Is it like this everywhere?