High IQ Can Lead To Increased Risk Of Mental Illness, Study Says

A new study suggests that highly intelligent people have a significantly increased risk of suffering from a variety of mental disorders.

The study titled “High intelligence: A risk factor for psychological and physiological over-excitabilities” published in the journal Science Direct last week says that “those with high intelligence are at significantly greater risk for the examined psychological disorders and physiological diseases.”

The research team found 20 percent of Mensa members, with an IQ of 130 and over, have a diagnosed anxiety disorder, compared to 10 percent of the general public in the U.S.

The research team used a “hyper brain/hyper body theory of integration,” which suggests that people, who have higher cognitive ability tend to react with greater emotional and behavioral response to their environments as compared to others with lower cognitive ability.

Due to their increased level of awareness, individuals with high IQ levels then typically exhibit a hyper-reactive central nervous system.

For example, “a minor insult such as a clothing tag or an unnatural sound may trigger a low level, chronic stress response which then activates a hyper body response,” Dr. Nicole Tetreault, co-author of the study explained to Thriveworks.com.

The study showed that there is a downgrade to having levels of IQ, as the individuals possess “unique intensities and over-excitabilities which can be at once both remarkable and disabling on many levels,” lead author of the study Ruth Karpinski said.

“Our findings are relevant because a significant portion of these individuals are suffering on a daily basis as a result of their unique emotional and physical over-excitabilities. It is important for the scientific community to examine high IQ as being front and center within the system of mechanisms that may be at play in these disregulations,” she added.

The researchers surveyed 3,715 members of American Mensa, Ltd., a group of people said to share the traits of high intelligence.

Each individual was asked to report their experiences with both diagnosed and suspected mental illnesses, like mood and anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and also physiological diseases, like food allergies and asthma.

The study then analyzed the data and compared it to the statistical national average for each illness. Researchers found that those with higher levels of IQ had higher risk of the disorders. While over 10 percent of the U.S. population have a diagnosed anxiety disorder, it was 20 percent for the members of Mensa, explained co-author Audrey Kinase Kolb.

“For these conditions, having a high intelligence is related to having between 2 to 4 times the chance of having a diagnosis compared to the average American,” she said, according to Neurosciencenews.com.

The researchers however, mentioned in the study that more work "needs to be done to demonstrate causation."

And moving forward, they hope that "with the recent advancement of the study of intelligence using neuroimaging techniques and full-scale attempts to map the genome combined with the newer research being conducted to better understand psychoneuroimmunological processes, it is possible that we will continue to see vital growth of our understanding in this understudied area."