About gifted adults.

[ECCE]

Im a 26 year old survivor living in sweden and would like to know if theres any info or books etc about the aftermath of sexual abuse. I know quite a lot about negative sideaffects but would be interesting to know more about if theres many survivors who grow up to become very "gifted" or intellectual because I feel Ive reached to a level in my life at 26 that a lot of peaople never reach in their life (and by level I dont mean just proffessional but mentally and spiritually) and my IQ is very high as well so if anyone knows anything about it or have anything to suggest I would be very happy!

 

[Nobbynobs]

ECCE, I was a gifted child, so I'm not sure I've felt what you are experiencing, but I had similar feelings.

 

[EGL]

Hi Ecce, and welcome to MS. I talked to one of my past therapists at some length about what you described. He stated that what you described is known to those in the psychology field as the "superkid" phenomenon. It is where an individual has experienced extreme trauma in their lives, yet they flourished and excelled despite it. He stated that there is quite a bit of research being done on this because psychologist would like to learn why some individuals excell like this while other individuals in identical circumstances live a very difficult existence, with some of them unable to provide even a menial living for themselves. Psychologist would like to know what it is about some individuals that allow them to overcome the past and thrive. Using that, they can then help those who have been seriously traumtized by the past. It's an interesting concept.

In my own case, I was a so called "gifted" child as well. My abilities include artistic gifts (numerous awards for paintings), musical talents (transcribed and arranged a full score of music for the school band when I was 14), as well as logical skills (I'm a computer software designer by vocation and my manager has told me I am his number 1 employee out of about 60).

I think we have to look at what drives people to achieve like this in order to begin to understand why that is. My father was physically abusive and emotionally empty, and I know my drive derived from trying to continuously please him and to gain some sort of acknowledgment of worth from him. I'm 45 years old now, and still waiting.

Yet even with all these abilities, I have extreme issues with self-worth, wondering why anyone would want to talk to me, never understanding what anyone sees in me. So it all goes back to the abuse. That's were it all began.

 

[Bill_h_pike]

I have asberger's syndrome. Basically that means that I find some subjects very easy but view socializing as an necessary intellectual chore. My prep must have had radar for kids like me.

I live in one of the "less desirable" neighborhoods of my city and attend a typical urban high school. Luckily their is a magnet school inside inside of my high school that is competitive with suburban high schools. A top-tier research university (I'm not going to name it since I was told not to post my location) offers full scholarships to all admitted students from my city's public schools. If I continue to do well in school my guidance counselor told me I have a pretty good shot at getting in and getting the scholarship.

When I was younger I viewed asbergers as a curse. Now that I'm older I view it as a gift. I may be destined to live a lonely life life with only a few close friends (but at least they are real friends) but at least I'm living a better life than the kids who teased me in middle school.

 

[roadrunner]

ECCE,

I was identified as a "gifted child" in 6th grade, by which time I had already been abused for more than a year. When we went up to junior high school I got put into a special section where we all did 7th and 8th grade in one year and then were a year ahead.

I was probably just a bright kid to begin with, but abuse certainly affected me intellectually. As I felt more and more ashamed and worthless I withdrew to the world of books and found solace there. That continued through high school, university and then into my career as a professor. I can see now that for years I was frantically striving to achieve more and more as "credit" against the day when everyone would discover how worthless I really was.

So, yes, I think abuse had an enormous impact on me in that area.

Much love,
Larry

 

[jesse7]

In my experience, having been abused has allowed me to isolate and spend my time alone with books. This has given me tons of free time to learn difficult subjects to the point that I've even managed to pull a 3.96 GPA in college.(not yet finished) I'm definitely not gifted, but I've taken many challenging courses like Latin, Paleography, Advanced Calculus, Calligraphy, Religious Studies, Eastern Philosophy, and Symbolic Logic. It's always fun and interesting to learn a lot of different subjects, but none of them ultimately fulfills me and eventually I feel nuaseated. Mere scholarship can be like opiate for the intellect: He that increaseth in knowledge increaseth in sorrow. (Eccl. 1:18)

Sadly, in the last three years I've received Dean's List awards almost every semester, as well as Certificates of Achievement, and even special invitations to various Honor Societies, all of which I've either declined, thrown away, or destroyed in my nihilism--that mood where it feels like nothing really matters and existence itself I perceive as being utterly meaningless. Macbeth describes it well:

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Jesse