Are High-IQ People at Greater Risk for Mental Health Problems?
A new hypothesis may explain the link between above-average intelligence and mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.
The phrase “tortured genius” is a cliché, but history is filled with anecdotes of great artists, scientists, and statesmen who suffered under the weight of their intellect. Marie Curie, Abraham Lincoln, Ludwig von Beethoven, and Virginia Woolf are a few ready examples.
During the past decade, several research teams have examined the associations between above-average intelligence and the incidence of mental health disorder. While not a universal finding, much of that work has revealed a correlation between elevated IQs and mental strife.
“What we found is that people with a higher IQ level were much more likely to be diagnosed with mood or anxiety disorders compared to the national average,” says psychologist Ruth Karpinski, referring to her group’s 2018 study in the journal Intelligence.
‘Those with high verbal intelligence are more at risk than, say, scientists or mathematicians.’
Karpinski and her colleagues collected mental health data from the U.S. chapter of Mensa —…
