Were you seen as intelligent/a high achiever when much younger?

[voltage268]

Were any of you guys pretty smart/achieving well academically when you were younger before mental illness or other factors turned things to shit? Or maybe you're still able to perform well intelligence wise in your job today?

Don't mean to trigger any unfulfilled potential crises, I did okay academically as a child and teenager, despite having undiagnosed depression and anxiety, had to drop out of university when shit hit really the fan and here I am years later feeling dumber with poor memory.

 

[FuneralCry]

No, in my case the exact opposite. I have always had very low intelligence and I have always struggled with concentration. I used to find it so hard when I was in education, it was a horrible experience, I could not cope. I have failed at pretty much everything in life. I just want to leave this world, I hate how I was forced to exist and I have to live with myself.

 

[ollo]

I was always a piece of shit!! according my countries educational standards, My siblings has schizophrenia, before it she was a top of class student, and I was a student who was in higher grade but not able to read or write compared to kids in grade lower than i was. Some how i passed the final exam and got away with that. I have my own set of psychological and physiological issues, which only made things worse.


After rage episodes, panic attacks and years of social anxiety issues(Crippling), I don''t know the exact reason behind the ringing sound in my head, but i believe it related to above mentioned issues. It's called tinnitus and I haven't slept properly for 6 months, like I used to sleep for every 5 days during midday, cause all the noises in surroundings mask it. I fucked up my exams and now i slack behind by 2 years... Where with my siblings it was a worst case situation, they cannot work normal without medication. medication makes a person sleepy, dumb and stupid. But it's the only way to life by no other choice and try to be happy with the small wins

 

[HappyForever?]

Yes. I was the best in class when I was in primary school. Fell off a bit in middle school due to being in a "talented kids" class and teenage hormones. Caught up in the last year of high school, and I'm now in one of the best universities in my country.
I'm not diagnosed with any mental illness, but I do exhibit some symptoms. I had regular mental breakdowns in my last year of high school due to stress. However they did not have too much influence on my academic performance.

 

[_Minsk]

Yeah kinda till depression and other mental health issues got worse/developed and ruined my life

 

[Neowise]

No, in my case the exact opposite. I have always had very low intelligence and I have always struggled with concentration. I used to find it so hard when I was in education, it was a horrible experience, I could not cope. I have failed at pretty much everything in life. I just want to leave this world, I hate how I was forced to exist and I have to live with myself.

Exactly my experience.

I've always been below average, and my mother and the other kids used to call me retard / laugh at my odd behaviour. Nobody ever believed in me, and neither did I.

 

[Frog]

I was able to memorize anything Rainman-style as a kid and was excellent at book learning and oratory. I coasted on being naturally clever and curious until the fog rolled in.

 

[fatefulstillness]

I do great academically but suffer immensely during the process. Would this still be considered "still performing well"...?

 

[voltage268]

I do great academically but suffer immensely during the process. Would this still be considered "still performing well"...?

I think so dude, understood we're all suffering here but wanted to see if any folk achieving well in younger years were able to still maintain that level up to today despite becoming suicidal.

 

[fatefulstillness]

I think so dude, understood we're all suffering here but wanted to see if any folk achieving well in younger years were able to still maintain that level up to today despite becoming suicidal.

I guess it doesn't mean the same to me anymore. How much it hurts and how much I've lost has ruined my experience.

 

[ImpulsiveFreak]

I believe wholeheartedly depression rots out your brain. I guess some studies pretty much prove it anyway but I applaud any of you who can still function somewhat mentally. My brain is screwed forever

 

[Squiddy]

I was told I had so much potential as a kid and "still do," but I don't see it. I feel extremely unintelligent due to my cognitive issues and inability to articulate myself verbally a lot of the time and those are my main reasons I want to ctb

 

[Nolan96]

Yes. Students and teachers would often say things like "Oh I'm sure you'll be a professor / judge / journalist " etc. one day. A lot of people said I was very "deep", especially stoner types who liked me better than they liked the typical "nerds".

One of the reason why I have no social media and don't talk to people from my past even if part of me craves the social connection is because I'm embarrassed to tell anyone how much I underperformed compared to expectations.

When I do run into people I went to high school with, 100% of the time they ask "What happened to you?" They're confused because they remember me being around in school and socially integrated, then I just disappear from their memory as I sank into depression, social isolation, truancy, and eventually dropping out. In their memories it's as if I was there and then suddenly at an indeterminate point half-way through high school just disappeared.

 

[Ligottian]

I was voted Most Likely to Succeed while being the only Protestant boy in the 8th grade at a Catholic school. How the mighty fell!

 

[Nolan96]

I was voted Most Likely to Succeed while being the only Protestant boy in the 8th grade at a Catholic school. How the mighty fell!

Maybe all those 8th-graders had just been reading too much Max Weber!

 

[Pain In The Ass]

I am of reasonable intelligence, but low achiever due to social retardation and a overwhelming love of being free in the daytime when most people work

 

[TheSoulless]

I was very good at school when I was younger. I never fit in though, I was the "quiet genius". It's like I'm a totally different person now, the opposite of what I was back then.

 

[voltage268]

Thanks for the responses guys, the poll results show an overwhelming % of peeps here started off in life performing well academically, respect to those as well who felt they didn't, again reinforcing the thought that there's a strong link between intellect and mental illness developing later in life.

Maybe it's because we overthink too much lol, plus there's such an overload of information nowadays with the internet, many years of stressful examinations etc, I'm sure it stressed the brain more than it was originally designed, or evolved yet to handle compared to our hunter-gatherer forebears of simpler times, even compared to say, 100, 200 years ago.

I saw plenty of the same topics in the depression sub on reddit and wanted to see if people felt the same here.

 

[Fadeawaaaay]

Depression and mental illness wrecked my life. All my academic peers are successful. I'm an outlier. Objectively, a failure.

 

[Messgram]

yes, some even called me a genius, even though deep down I knew I was way below average. Today they realize who I really am and how wrong they were. I couldn't care less though, as I'm not obligated to please any of them but it still bothers me to hear insults. I just wish I could have a good job and enough money to support myself and live isolated from everyone, but for that I would have to be smart...

 

[jandek]

Yeah, I've always done well at school, maybe because I don't have any identity or self-worth outside of academic achievement. I definitely feel that I've become "slower" mentally as my depression and social isolation have progressed over the years. Maybe that's just aging. Honestly, I'm close to getting my PhD, but all I feel is that I've wasted my life on academics. There's nothing waiting for me at the end of this tunnel.

 

[slushy]

YUP. Got pulled out of school when I was little because I was "gifted." Now I have no life or social skills, no education. I've never had a real life friend, not even an acquaintance. I'm isolated

 

[Bedrock48]

Yeah, top of my class and was in a special group for "gifted" kids. We got special assignments and such that were more challenging for us alongside what everyone else got. I speed read through books like no tomorrow. I think I had all the signs I had a bright future ahead of me.

I'd still say I'm pretty intelligent, nothing that would be genius level or see me performing in competitions or anything. I just don't have the motivation to apply what I know and I don't have the drive to persue a career or re entry into education after dropping college.

I hope things might change in the future but that's what trauma and bullying did to me.

 

[Natty]

Yup. Academic scholarship, 99th percentile in standardized tests from the ITBS when I was in grade school to the ACT. My mom worked at a tutoring "school" for STEM majors and through them I had access to IQ testing and was able to "get into" MENSA.

I was stupid enough to pay their fees for 3 years, though. Yes, you heard that right, you have to pay a fee to remain in mensa lmao.

 

[Marktheghost]

Intelligent, yes.
High achiever, never!
That's 1 of the reasons I want to kill myself. I've never come close to fulfilling my potential!