On Instagram, psychologist Baptiste Carreira Mellier (@le.neuropsy) recalls a useful idea: the fact of being HPI does not, in itself, explain lasting discomfort. Current data do not show that high intellectual potential makes one more psychologically vulnerable overall. On the other hand, it can coexist with ADHD, ASD or an insufficiently identified learning disorder.
HPI is not a disorder, nor a single explanation
The neuropsychologist’s message targets a frequent confusion: attributing psychological, academic or professional suffering to high intellectual potential alone. Gold HPI is not a disorderneither an illness nor a diagnosis equivalent to ADHD or an autism spectrum disorder.
Current knowledge does not allow us to say that people with high potential are, on average, more anxious, more depressed or more psychologically fragile than others. In other words, seeing HPI people in difficulty in consultation
does not prove that HPI causes this suffering. This is one of the points raised by the expert: people who are well consult less, therefore they are less visible in places of care.
The nuance is important. Saying that HPI is not enough to explain discomfort does not mean that the experience of a high-potential person is always simple. Felt disconnection, boredom, school or professional demands, fatigue: these experiences can exist. But coexistence is not causation. Clearly, you can be HPI and go through difficulties, without HPI necessarily being the main cause.
This is why the label “high potential” should not close the discussion. As also recalled in our article on HPI people are not necessarily suffering, the challenge is above all to understand what really bothers the person on a daily basis.
When a high intellectual level compensates for other difficulties
Baptiste Carreira Mellier insists on another mechanism: certain people would have “functioned well” for years thanks to their reasoning skills, before the compensation became too costly. le.neuropsy then cites the possibility of ADHD, autism or a learning disorder that goes unnoticed, leading to significant fatigue or a loss of balance.
On ADHD, this idea is supported by a study published in 2017 in the Journal of Attention Disorders. Among adults with ADHD, those with higher IQs had fewer difficulties on executive function tests than those with standard IQs. This suggests that, in some adults with ADHDa high intellectual level can attenuate what the tests objectify and make tracking more complex.
However, we must remain precise: this study concerns ADHD specifically. For autism or learning disorders, we can talk about possible coexistence, compensation strategies or late detection, but not assert that the HPI always “masks” them in the same way. The signs can also be subtle or interpreted differently, especially when a person has learned to overcompensate for a long time. This is what makes an overall assessment useful, rather than a single explanation.
Concretely, the explanation by the HPI alone deserves to be re-examined when difficulties persist or impact daily life:
- Difficulties with attention, organization or task management that recur despite efforts;
- Long-lasting exhaustion at school, studies or work;
- Relational, social or sensory difficulties which lead to suffering;
- Long-lasting problems with reading, writing, arithmetic or learning.
These situations do not allow self-diagnosis. Rather, they indicate thata professional opinion becomes usefulwith a person trained in the assessment of ADHD, ASD or learning disabilities. Tests and questionnaires can help, but are not sufficient to make a diagnosis when isolated from the clinical context and the real impact.
The right reflex is therefore not to conclude too quickly: “it’s my HPI” or, conversely, “it’s necessarily ADHD”. It’s about keeping a hypothesis open. To go further, you can also consult our guides on the signs of ADHD in adults and on autism that has gone under the radar in adulthood.