By Mariana Ashley.  Bill Bradley, retired NBA player, US Senator, and US presidential candidate, said "Ambition is the path to success.  Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in."  Any high-ability student knows the truth of this quote, as they have likely received accolades, awards, and praise for their efforts and ambitions.  But these students also know the darker side of ambition, the side known only by the few who walk that path and have seen its thorns and shadows.

He estado pensando acerca de los diferentes tipos de perfeccionismo, después de una discusión que tuve con un superdotado sobreviviente de trauma. Pude distinguir con mayor claridad que algunos aspectos de su perfeccionismo tenían que ver con su experiencia de vivir con altas capacidades y otros estaban relacionados con problemas en su familia de origen.

La persona que me llama por teléfono dice que comenzó a llorar después de leer mi website. No es la primera vez que escucho esta reacción. La página que leyeron no es la de adicciones ó la de depresión. Sólo hay una página que produce esta reacción. Quien llama leyó acerca de individuos superdotados en mi sitio web. Se trata de información que es nueva para ellos. Algunas personas siempre han sabido que tienen altas capacidades: Este artículo es para quienes no lo sabían.

Lisbeth Salander is the fictional heroine of Steig Larsson’s trilogy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. As the heroine, Lisbeth Salander embodies certain characteristics of giftedness, and these characteristics help her survive terrible, long-term physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

The loud laughter ricochets through the restaurant. A bright red dress seems to shout as it sways on a woman’s hips. The talents of another person are multiple and many. That one friend goes on and on, riffing quickly and widely on all the topics he’s obsessed with. It’s all a bit too much, isn’t it? Shouldn’t these people tone it down? But says who? Who decides what’s the right amount of anything? I’ve been accused of being ‘too much’ all my life. Too loud, too fast, too smart, too multi-talented, too audacious. I’ve never been able to live according to that external standard of ‘just right’.

I’ve been thinking about varieties of perfectionism since having a discussion with a gifted trauma survivor.  It became clear that some of their perfectionism was an expression of giftedness and some was related to family of origin issues.  Same outcome, different sources.  Does the source of perfectionism matter?  I think it does.  By understanding the differences we can clarify what can be embraced and managed, and what can be healed. Different sources, different strategies.

If you are a person who has heard statements like, “you’re just too much,” “you think too much,” or “you’re too sensitive,” your whole life, this article is for you. Perhaps you perceived such comments as indicators that something was wrong with you, or you weren’t even sure why people were saying these things to you. Well, take heart, you are not alone! It was only recently, that I myself, a therapist specializing in working with gifted, creative and highly capable people had a humorous and enlightening experience of my own.

In every million people, one may expect at the least 20,000 XIPs [eXtra intelligent/eXtra intense people]. They may work for all kinds of organizations, they may be volunteers, or even without a regular job. They may be TV-presenters, writers, all kinds of competent artisans, civil servants or entrepreneurs, politicians, sports people, marketers, architects, scientists, secretaries, or even janitors. Their performance may be excellent, average, or far below average. XIPs may or may not be high achievers.

Extra intelligence refers literally to an uncommon overdose, compared to standard availability. It is well known that the label gifted is generally not welcomed by the person in question, whether child or adult. This can be due to worries about possible stigmatization as a strange exception to normal, or about the implied expectation or felt obligation to be an outstanding performer. We have always considered it one of the benefits of the term of Extra Intelligence, that there are less implicit burdens connected to it.

By Lisa Erickson, MS, LMHC. Understanding yourself as a gifted person can be compared to the coming out process for gays.  The analogy is not perfect: after all, gifted people don’t need to worry about personal safety, job security, discrimination and homophobia, or abandonment by family or friends because of their giftedness. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people do. But there are useful parallels.