The stereotype of ‘mad genius’ may have a basis in reality, after a study carried out by researchers from the Department of Psychology at Pitzer College (USA) found that people with high intelligence quotient run a increased risk of developing mental illness.
The experts interviewed 3,715 members of the NGO for the gifted American Mensa with an IQ over 130. Mensa has 120,000 members worldwide (only 2,000 in Spain) and to belong to this international gifted association you have to be in the percentile 98 or higher, that is, obtaining a score within the upper 2% of the general population. To refresh our memory with the scores, getting between 85 and 115 IQ means having average or normal intelligence. And the IQ is obtained through a standardized test designed to assess intelligence.
Respondents had to answer if at any time in their lives they had been diagnosed with a mental illness such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or autism (autism spectrum disorder), as well as state if they suffered from depression problems, mood swings or anxiety or suspected undiagnosed mental illness and physiological illnesses such as asthma, food allergies.
After comparing these data with the national statistical average for each disease, they found overwhelming data: Members of the Mensa community had significantly higher rates of mixed disorders compared to the national average statistics for the United States.
Thus, while 10% of the general population was diagnosed with anxiety disorder, among the Mensa community it increased to 20%, according to the study published in the journal Science Direct.
Their research confirms the scientific hypothesis that suggests that intellectually gifted people are more sensitive to environmental stimuli and “may predispose them to certain psychological disorders, as well as to physiological conditions involving elevated sensory and immune and inflammatory responses.”
The study confirmed that due to their high levels of intelligence, those with higher IQs react more to their surroundings, creating a hyper-brain scenario, where they show an overactive central nervous system.
“The unique intensities and excitability (…) can be both extraordinary and disabling on many levels. A large part of these people suffer emotional and physical hypersensitivity on a daily basis” that leads them to become upset at any noise, such as falling a book on the floor or a strange sound, for example.
“They trigger a low level of chronic stress response that then activates a hypercorporeal response,” he explains. Nicole Tetreault, co-author of the work.
However, the study pointed out that a high IQ is not the cause of mental illness, but it does predispose to suffering from it.
IQ table:
1 to 24: profound mental disability
25 to 39: severe mental disability
40 to 54: moderate mental disability
55 to 69: mild mental disability
70 to 84: limit of mental disability
85-114: average intelligence
115 to 129: Above average
130 to 144: Moderately gifted
145 to 159: Very gifted
160 to 179: Exceptionally Gifted
180 and up: Deeply gifted
Reference: High intelligence: A risk factor for psychological and physiological overexcitabilities. Ruth I. Karpinskia Audrey M. Kinase Kolbab Nicole A.Tetreaultc Thomas B. Borowskid. Intelligence. DOI: https: //doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2017.09.001
