High IQ linked with Anxiety

I'm interested to hear opinions on IQ levels and people suffering from Agoraphobia like me. I read a Philosophy magazine

and the Philosophers gave their background, most of them suffered from Anxiety, Depression & Agoraphobia. These people of

high learning seem to be blessed in a way. So, is a high firing brain linked to IQ and anxiety by over-learning the social

environment . Although I detest the thought of measurement and judgement of people as a label, I did a IQ test myself to

investigate this link, I scored gifted. What are your thoughts on this matter ?

One must consider which came first: The high IQ or the agoraphobia, anxiety, etc. I mean, does having intelligence mean that you see the 'truth' out there and realise what a terrible place the world is (and therefore you become depressed/withdrawn)?; or does having anxiety/agoraphobia mean that you spend more time alone with your brain and can therefore think a lot about 'stuff', in general, thereby 'acquiring' intellect..


??

Good question which came first Anxiety or IQ level ? I would suggest possibility that they evolved at the same time for me, the IQ rate increased with the metabolic rate of brain increasing with condition of the anxiety over time.(having to think on your feet and taking in to much information at the same time, your brain always adjusting to new stimulis and none stop assessment of new conditions, hence its needs to work harder, therefore stronger possibility.)

My brain function when in a peaceful situation is high focused but turn's into a chaos function in a stimulated environment(can't focus) but I think the IQ is probably in mind is needed to rationalise out the chaos experiences) . I think, both anxiety and IQ levels feed and create a playing field for each other. Fast oscilating environments of peace and high Anxiety conditions causing this energy of mind(which I hope is spiritual in nature). A good example for me of High Peace is walking in Nature., and example of High Anxiety is a noisy crowded pub(the herd, lol). The oscilating continuous hot and cold environments make your mind go warmer over time and if it comes to the boil or shortcircuits, its called a mental burn out. Hmm, is your brain temperature(if there is such I thing, lol) as an indicator of IQ and stress levels(my mind show's me a head with steam coming out the top it, does it need more water to function, I wonder Ha, ha), I know my hands are always constantly really warm and the static I produce is amazing. CHUCKY, Thanks for your reply to my post. Thanks for reading too.

Simply from sheer observation, I'd definitely say there's a correlation between higher intelligence and anxiety.

This thread is proving to be highly interesting, and I certainly agree that anxiety and intelligence could have developed alongside each other. In life righ now, the most intelligent people in the past 'all' reportedly suffered from depression or some other ailment. The people who are happy/content don't seem to have contributed much to advance the human race, except for maybe procreating lots of times and actually producing the various geniuses that have existed (by chance).

Brain temperature wouldn't be a good indicator, I feel, because everyone's would be pretty much the same. Some of us do indeed to more thinking than others but the extra temperature generated would be negligible I think. The brain is the most hungry organ in the body though... ...I'm surprised it's not obese, in fact, considering how much energy it consumes!

If anything, it seems more like a high degree of sensitivity. When you're strongly aware of any negative social feedback, it's pretty easy to develop some kind of anxiety.

This is an interesting thread...

For me, I was grounded a lot, we lived in the outskirts of the country, I was alone without friends a lot. spent a lot of time as a kid by myself, reading, hacking computer programs, studying obscure topics. I flunked social life, yet accelerated at becoming a bit of a medieval polymath. lol... I would argue that in my case the pre-intelligence was there first giving me the ability to naturally grasp things quickly. I remember at the age of 15 learning the c/c++ programming language in a weekend from reading manuals to write code for the TUDC of Canada [credit bureau], prior to that I only new Pascal, Basic, ASM x86, and Fortran. I remember teaching myself to program in Basic by looking at other peoples programs at the age of 9. I was reading dictionaries around the age of 7, despite my inability to correctly spell. For birthdays instead of toys family would by me dictionaries, encyclopaedia sets, and books of knowledge. I believe there was a predisposition. I struggle now with severe anxiety, social phobias, paranoia, agoraphobia and have been measured and tested with gifted intelligence... depending on the scale it ranges from gifted to genius. Tests vary... I do better with spatial, pattern and visual problems as opposed to the sections of IQ tests that measure on language, and fundamental math, but I'm good with angular geometry, and physics. It depends on the branch of math and what it involves. I have a very typical AS mind, parts rather than a whole are much easier to focus on, they're also way more interesting. In highschool my Calculus and Finite math grades didn't even total a passing grade. I couldn't grasp chemistry despite it's visual components.

I have basically ostracized myself from society and become more of a novelty. I can wholly comprehend why Howard Hughes did what he did. Along with many other very gifted individuals. Whether, like Chuky having AS had anything to do with it, or whether my symptoms have progressed to a plethora of co-morbid mental issues was the side-effect of living an introverted lifestyle? I'd say it was a bit of both, but the predisposition had to be there in the first place to set the ball rolling. I'm at the egg stage in this evaluation. Heavily researching what happened to people of high intelligence, I've come to the same conclusion they all lost the ability to function in society, became reclusive, retracted. I'm all for staying that way... society does not interest me at all in the long term. Computer contact is enough for me. I can turn it off when I need to regenerate, or clear off my plate when I get overwhelmed. Be well... peace and light everyone.

This may be an old thread but i've got to say something. I read all the reply's here yet I'm dealing with anxiety/panic attacks/agoraphobia some type of high functioning schizophrenia with mood problems yet I don't see my self as gifted which may be due to low self esteem denial all that good stuff but i'm only saying I don't think i'm greatly gifted other than understanding certain situations & ideas better than others - whats the deal? help this tirent out please. By the way Vandel I've been isolated from people all my life as well and reading about your life I was very interested to the point of attraction untill I started seeing how much better you are than my self so I fell in a hole of darn it..

Jason Raub wrote:...i'm only saying I don't think i'm greatly gifted other than understanding certain situations & ideas better than others - whats the deal?

Well, it could be regarded as modesty. Don't be so hard on yourself. Gifted isn't all the label it's cracked upto be. It just means you excel in certain areas, and are completely defficient in others. Labels are most certainly not the end all be all. Misunderstanding surrounds them all the time.

Jason Raub wrote:help this tirent out please.

I'm not sure what the word is that you used. I'm not one to help in that sense. But I'll do my best like others to act as a sounding board for solutions, or coping skills. I've been off and on lately though trying to restructure a lot of my own failing coping mechanisms. So unfortunately, I'm really not sure how good sounding off me lately is going to really be.

Jason Raub wrote:By the way Vandel I've been isolated from people all my life as well...

Some would tell you, that's very unhealthy. Personally, I'm all for doing what makes you comfortable so that you're able to do anything that's functional and progressive through the day. We're all unique and different in our needs and expectations. Isolation has been practiced for many different reasons from meditation, to prayer to extreme personal philosophy in hermitism. Just whatever your reason is, make sure there's a purpose behind it. There's nothing beneficial about merely drifting through life. Paint, write, code, read, bake, carve, knit, whatever... work towards something. It doesn't have to impress anyone. Do it for you. If you have to do it in isolation, do it in isolation. I do, nevertheless, understand the detrimental effects isolation can have on the human mind. So that's the next process, try to keep it healthy in that productivity. I get the paper problem aspects of that, and it's totally an easier said than done sort of process. I get that.

Jason Raub wrote:I started seeing how much better you are than my self so I fell in a hole of darn it..

I assure you I am no better than anyone. Even I have my idols. I'm just me. I fake it pretty well. I've put a tremendous amount of effort in developing this outward model of functionality. But it only works in words, and theory, believe me, for the most part, it's totally impractical, and nearly completely dysfunctional. Since realism in optimism is more a favourable model to me, the tower in the old days was meant to induce personal reflection. Put your mind to use, even if you can put it into words. If it wasn't for the severely dysfunctional we wouldn't have progress. Seriously, look through history at the most intelligent of our species and you'll notice one striking similiarity, they're all misfits and anxiety ruled a majority of their lives.

My mother called me a tirent once or twice in my life, who could know a child better than the mother. I'm glad you replyed to me Vandel thank you, tonight has just been confuseing for me and reading your reply helps. I also understand now why some things I would have liked to occur have not occured, my friend david in the past stopped talking with me due to similer diffaculties with socialization. As for my self i'm slowly looking more strangely on people and slowly my depression has transformed from self-distruction to looking at the world as sensations which others can experence while I can not - high function form of depression in my own explaination. My writeing/typeing ability is lacking, now I am done typeing I look at my self as a fraud for the moment.