High intelligence and mental health in childhood: a clinical perspective

Abstract

High intelligence in childhood and adolescence remains a poorly understood area, fraught with myths, expectations, and inequalities. For decades, its study has been linked almost exclusively to the quantification of cognitive ability. Thus, since the first scales of Binet and Simon, the intelligence quotient (IQ) has served as the central criterion for defining giftedness. This reductionist approach left out essential factors such as creativity, motivation, and the emotional dimension of talent. With the second half of the 20th century came more integrative models, such as Renzulli's, which situated giftedness at the intersection of high intellectual ability, creativity, and task commitment. This approach broadened the conception of high intelligence as a diverse phenomenon, encompassing giftedness, specific talents, and precociousness. However, in Spanish practice, significant heterogeneity persists, as each autonomous community applies its own identification criteria, leading to relevant inequalities and the possibility that the same child may be recognized as gifted in one region but not in another. This regulatory disparity contributes to the fact that many highly intelligent children and adolescents are not identified and, sometimes, do not receive the attention they need.