Emma Offord is a clinical psychologist specializing in neurodivergence. She is the founder of Divergent Life, a neuroaffirming private practice. Emma is passionate about the neurodiversity movement, developing more empowered ways to think about neurodivergence, providing creative and somatic forms of therapy for the ND community.
At DL, we take a neuroaffirming approach to neurodivergence. We embrace the complexity of our neurobiology and take joy in its nuance. You might have read our article on neurohybridity, a term we coined to describe the interrelated nature of different neurotypes. In that feature, we explored why not honouring your neuro hybridity might cause you burnout. Today, we’re looking at another aspect of neuro hybridity and divergence: giftedness.
What is giftedness
When we think about giftedness, if we think about it at all, we tend to mean intellectual giftedness, as defined by Wikipedia as being an intellectual ability well above that of an average person. We usually refer to IQ, and it is broadly assumed that intellectually gifted people will be within the top 2.5% of the population who have an IQ over 130.
Intellectual giftedness can be very specific, for example someone with highly attuned skills for mathematics or science. Or more broad, perhaps they may be a meta thinker, able to make connections easily or learn quickly.
But giftedness is more than just intellectual. There are several areas of giftedness:
Intellectual: ability to think quickly, understand complex subject matter, may seem to learn without trying, often ask deep questions, able to sustain deep mental effort when engaged
Existential: often have a intuitive connection to ethical, ecological, and values-based questions and subject matter, question the nature of reality and existence, our role in society, often display an innate curiosity and drive for justice
Creative: embodying this word in its fullest sense these people can be creative in the traditional sense of artistic expression, as well as creative in their approach to life and answering some of the big questions, they are exploratory in nature and never satisfied with answers like ‘because it is’, they want to understand the roots, the origins
Physical: while this does include incredible dexterity and skill in the physical sense being good at sport, dance, movement and music, it can also relate to mental dexterity in understanding the physical world
Sensual: innately connected to their senses and of those of the people around them, highly attuned to people and nature, manifests in a deep appreciation of the beauty of the world and a driving need to protect it
Emotional: these people express a strong sense of right and wrong, justice, and a need for truth, they are deeply connected to their emotions and the emotions of others and feel existential and emotional pain on a deep level.
What is truly astounding about giftedness is the profound level of curiosity that comes with it. These are people who push the boundaries of our current understanding and are continually searching for the answer to ‘why’.
Often, giftedness comes with a spiky profile, meaning a person may be twice exceptional (2e). They may be highly skilled in some areas, while struggling in others. Because they are so highly skilled their challenges may either go unnoticed or disbelieved, causing chronic trauma and risking poor mental health outcomes. We discuss trauma and giftedness later.
What giftedness looks like
Why gifted minds get bored
It stands to reason that if a gifted person is innately curious about the world around them, then they will stagnate and get bored easily too. This isn’t some deficit, although often it is seen that way if giftedness isn’t understood or hasn’t been associated with that individual. This is one of the unfortunate conflicts of being gifted. You are often misunderstood and underestimated because your brain works differently than the vast majority of the population.
As this article by Sen Gifted explores, gifted people can find the pace and lack of stimulation for their brains extremely challenging to navigate.
Gifted minds generally don’t operate in the same way that a more typical mind will. Gifted minds may well skip thinkers getting from point A to point C without seeing the need for point B. They could be meta thinkers, which brings awareness to the thought processes and patterns their brains create. They may be matrix thinkers, able to hold large amounts of data and information in mind at any given time.
Gifted people often feel restricted and constrained by societies rules, regulations, and stipulations of the natural order of things. They are naturally drawn to explore, create and experiment. If any one of these areas are stifled, the natural conclusion is that they become bored.
A bored gifted person can end up in a cycle of bore-out. This is akin to burnout, but instead of being driven by overwhelm and a lack of rest, or poor working conditions, it is related to a lack of natural neurotransmitter production and synthesis in the brain.
There is a very interesting connection between giftedness, highly sensitive physiology and neurotransmitters. A study conducted in 2015 by Elke van Hoof indicated that 87% of gifted individuals were also highly sensitive.
Being highly sensitive means being extremely attuned to sensory stimuli within your body and in the external world around you. Your neuroception picks up on cues in your environment. While your interoception is providing lots of information about the internal processes within your body. A person who has a highly sensitive physiology simply means they have a heightened awareness of what is going on around them and within them.
However, the downside of this highly attuned neuroceptive and interoceptive awareness is neurotransmitter insufficiency, particularly dopamine and serotonin.
At DL, we discuss these two neurotransmitters a lot. We’ve discussed them in the context of oestrogen and women’s menstrual cycles and perimenopause. We’ve discussed them in the context of ADHD. This connection between dopamine and serotonin synthesis, giftedness and a highly sensitive physiology is yet another fascinating dimension of neurodivergence.
Bore-out that burnout caused by being understimulated could not only be more likely to occur for a gifted person due to the way they think, but also from a physiological perspective. Their giftedness and high sensitivity could be impacting the way the brain is making and using dopamine – which we know is directly related to motivation and serotonin which is of course directly related to mood. It seems logical then, that a gifted person may be more susceptible to bore-out not just because they get bored more easily from the mundane, but because they are physiologically more likely to.
Gifted trauma
Being gifted may sound fun. Imagine being able to see new solutions, learn quickly, or be able to process large amounts of information at speed. But as with all good things, it comes with some really quite distressing downsides.
As with any minoritised group, being the only ones in the room who think and feel differently doesn’t mean you are going to be liked or accepted. Gifted people have for centuries been ridiculed, othered, dismissed, ignored, and underestimated. They can be pressured to conform, especially at school. When they are unable to because they are bored, they are often shamed by the very people who should be helping them access their full potential, teachers, parents, or managers.
There is also the risk of exploitation. Their enthusiasm for a subject, their light up a room joy of discovery and exploration may make them more vulnerable to being exploited. Remember the twice-exceptionality of giftedness. Just because you are highly gifted in one area, doesn’t mean you are gifted in all areas. Gifted people can often find their work being copied, or find they have somehow been manipulated into sharing their thoughts and reflections for free or without credit.
And if you are gifted and highly sensitive, or twice exceptional, or your giftedness is around the senses and emotions, you are going to feel the effect of trauma intensely. Your neurotransmitters may also be insufficient, causing increased changes in mood or depressed mood.
Then there’s also the link of chronic stress and trauma on the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis, with overactivation of stress hormones leading to a chronic release of cortisol. Sustained high levels of cortisol within the body can have lasting damaging effects including inflammation, a further inhibitory effect on the synthesis of neurotransmitters, and damaging neurons.
Signs you might be gifted
It is worth exploring having a giftedness profile completed if you experience any of the following:
You think differently than your peers, friends or family, utilising skip thinking, metacognition, or matrix thinking.
You have a deep special interest that has lasted a number of years.
You are very curious, exploring a range of topics or having completed many qualifications or courses.
You have had a number of different careers, finding that you get bored once the job has got to the point of stasis and stability.
You love exploration and find routine stifling and dull.
Without sufficiently stimulating intellectual exploration or relationships, you go into a kind of existential crisis or shut down
You have a quirky sense of humour.
You were described as being very mature at a young age, or had older friends or associates, finding peers your own age didn’t connect with you.
You have high intensity when it comes to learning or things you are interested in.
You found school boring or found that in later life you prefer to do self-paced learning due to your need to learn and process information at speed.
You are neurodivergent or suspect that you are.
This is not an exhaustive list. If you find that anything in this article has sparked some curiosity for you, get in touch to discuss whether you may be gifted by emailing us at hello@divergentlife.co.uk
How to nourish your giftedness
Here are three easy ways to start to support your giftedness:
1. Feed your curiosity:
A study by George Land commissioned by NASA showed that an incredible 98% of the 1,600 children who took part in the study qualified as being creative geniuses. The study found that once these children grew into adulthood, just 2% qualified.
The resounding message is that we must continue to feed our curiosity and refuse to be dumbed down by the modern schooling system. If you want to learn something, learn it. You don’t have to learn for any other reason than for the joy of finding stuff out and answering the questions you have. You can be curious formally through a course or qualification, or informally through reading, studying and discussing your topic of choice with other people who share your passion.
2. Give yourself permission to be a growing, changing, imperfect person:
We love this phraseology from High Ability. What a beautiful way to look at our neurobiology and complexity. The journey to finding out what we’re good at never ends. We are never going to reach the end of that journey. Being in the mindset that growth is constant and ever-changing frees us from the shackles of being held to the destination.
This also helps us tackle perfectionism, which is a form of internalised trauma and masking. We’ve learned from a young age that we are held to higher ideals than our peers, even if we didn’t understand why at the time. We’ve also learned that rejection is painful. So when we’ve stood out for being different, when we’ve been called weird, been othered, a very natural response is to try and be perfect. Because if we are perfect, people have to like us. Sadly, that isn’t true, and more trauma is formed because we can never reach this ideal. We are still rejected, othered, and shamed.
But by giving ourselves permission to be imperfect, to embody imperfectness, to release ourselves from the destination of being perfect, we can find peace.
3. Nourish your sense of justice:
This can feel like a burning flame deep inside you that can’t be snuffed out. Even when you are in the midst of burnout, bore-out, or an existential crisis, that little flame stays alight. Fan it. Keep it alive. And use it to bring your incredible intense focus to bear. Because that sense of seeking justice for yourself and others alongside your giftedness and sensitivity, is what is going to keep you going and help you make a significant impact on the world.
This isn’t about changing the world per se. Just by existing and being your true authentic self for the people around you, your friends, your family, your children, you are making a huge difference, you are enough. That is your gift to yourself.
Very soon we will be launching a special closed community for people who identify as neurodivergent, gifted, or highly sensitive. It’ll be a safe space to connect with other like-minded people, who all share a curiosity for the world around them. Sign up for our newsletter to be the first one to hear about the community when it launches.
Divergent Life is a private psychology and coaching service specialising in remote neuroaffirming neurodivergent assessment.
Our mission is to support neurodivergent people to flourish and thrive.
Understanding your neurobiology and how it interacts with the world around you is a basic human right. Through your neurobiology, we will help you forge a path towards relational, educational, physical, and psychological safety.
We provide diagnostic assessments, therapy, coaching, and group programmes, specialising in the experiences of neurodivergent women and men, and supporting children and families, too. We use a neuroaffirming, trauma-informed approach, getting curious with our clients about their vulnerabilities, challenges, and strengths.
We work with you to understand your diagnosis and self-identification through a trauma lens. This helps you reduce the impact of neurodivergent trauma, becoming confident and knowledgeable about your own neurobiology.
Divergent Life has a small team of specialists who work alongside Dr Offord to provide a range of therapeutic and coaching services.
Read more from Emma Offord
Emma Offord, Neuroaffirming therapist, coach, and thought-leader
Emma is a thought-leader in neuroaffirming approaches to neuro divergence diagnosis and support. She is trailblazing new ways of defining neurodivergence through the lens of giftedness and strengths. While still recognizing and validating the challenges and stigma neurodivergent people face, Emma is leading the way in dismantling societal norms associated with the medical model of disorder. She’s the founder of Divergent Life, a neuroaffirming organisation providing diagnosis, therapy, and coaching to individuals, and guidance for organisations to become neuroinclusive.
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