Preventing Gifted Depression

Depression comes in many forms for the gifted adult. The word 'depression' is used so commonly these days, the meaning people associate with it can be anything from feeling a little down or not quite yourself, to full-blown clinical depression that requires medication to address.

For the most part, depression among the gifted stems fundamentally from the gap between who you are and who you were meant to be. This is not always a conscious gap, but for sure you feel it there.

Gifted adults always have to be learning and exploring. That's just part of your nature - a big part that you can't live without. When you stop growing you start dying, in a sense, which for many shows up as depression.

If you get bogged down with taking care of other people, or you find yourself stuck in uneventful routines day after day your brains start clamouring for your attention. And you start to feel it in your everyday emotions. Add to all of this the high levels of emotion you perceive regularly anyway and you have a recipe for trouble.

If you start to notice that you're spending more time in the lows than in the highs in your life, take note of what you've been doing.

• Have you been eating well and physically moving to help keep your body healthy?


• Have you been taking time for yourself to explore some of the topics and do some of the things you're interested in?


• Have you been challenging yourself to do something unique that really excites you?


• Have you been connecting with other gifted people so you can share your experiences with other people who understand you?


• Have you been looking toward future ways to keep your life motivating?

If you're feeling down and you've answered no to some of these questions, then you now have a place to focus on to begin picking yourself up. Pay attention to what helps you feel better and when (maybe you need to be busier in the morning instead of the afternoon, for example). And write down your reflections during your up times so you can go back and look for any connections between them later on.

And, above all, please share what works for you or someone you know so gifted adults can continue to learn and grow together.