[Moxdi]

>We don’t yet know why this is, or whether it’s down to nature, nurture or both. One study shows that among members of Mensa in America, the rate of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is almost twice that diagnosed in the general population.

>Among these individuals, the incidence of depression, anxiety and ADHD is higher than in the average population.

how is adhd linked to gifted children?, i find this fact interesting...

[defnogenius]

I'm no genius but people I've met in life have often remarked that I'm "intelligent" or "bright" or whatever and when I did the Mensa test out of curiosity I got the "top 1%" result (don't remember any more numbers than that).

But I've always lacked in social skills. Such skills, that to me seem innate in other people, I've had to work to acquire (or maybe learn to fake). As though other people have a dedicated coprocessor for these things and can do them more or less effortlessly whereas I have to use lots and lots of CPU cycles to figure out what other people expect from me. This means that social interactions cost quite a bit of energy and I often have to zone out to recuperate. Which in turn means that social interactions distract me from achieving some of what my supposedly very-much-above-average raw intellect should allow. Most other people seem to "feel" much more than I do, and I think I "think" more than most.

Still, I like it inside my head and I wouldn't want to have it any other way.

[Mikeb85]

> how is adhd linked to gifted children?, i find this fact interesting...

They diagnose pretty much any child who can't sit still in class with ADHD. Lots of gifted children are bored by school, which the authorities see as a disorder since most teachers don't care (or don't have to time) to bother giving any students individual attention, and the system is ill equipped to provide gifted students with more learning opportunities.

[jcora]

That's such obvious selection bias. People who join Mensa have something to prove.

[throwawaymath]

Is your alternative hypothesis that ADHD is twice as prevalent in people who feel they have "something to prove"?

[taneq]

Maybe they ended up taking MENSA entry tests when they were meant to be doing their taxes or something.

[elcritch]

Now that sums of much of ADHD experience. More seriously, there are indications that aspects of ADHD affect information processing in potentially beneficial ways. I have a hunch that given the overall detriment ADHD has to many life skills that ADHD genes would be selected along with genes for higher IQ as a counterbalance, with both combined together conferring unique advantages.

[lazyasciiart]

People with adhd are more likely than not-adhd to feel that they could have achieved better academic results than they did. Mensa is popular among people who value external metrics of intelligence, like academic results. So it seems plausible that people with adhd are more likely to feel they have “something to prove” which can be gained by joining Mensa.

[jcora]

Exactly. If they're intelligent but have ADHD they could feel insistently valued by the academic system and required additional validation via Mensa. ADHD by itself, as far as I know, isn't positively correlated with IQ.

[akhilcacharya]

Correct, and it's why I'm a fan of David Mitchell's video on this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPMKqyaXtHI