If you are a person who has heard statements like, “you’re just too much,” “you think too much,” or “you’re too sensitive,” your whole life, this article is for you. Perhaps you perceived such comments as indicators that something was wrong with you, or you weren’t even sure why people were saying these things to you. Well, take heart, you are not alone! It was only recently, that I myself, a therapist specializing in working with gifted, creative and highly capable people had a humorous and enlightening experience of my own.

In my private psychotherapy practice and in my personal life, I have known many gifted women who seem to possess what I refer to as the “rage to achieve.”  They are constantly driven to learn, to create and to be intellectually productive even while raising young children. What distinguishes these women from their ambitious counterparts is that their motivation is not financial security, accolades or professional visibility; but their love for the process of learning, creating and involvement in a field or arena that holds deep interest and fascination for them. [Photo: author Amy Bloom.]

Although this particular story is about one individual 24 year old gifted young woman that I refer to as “weed girl,” the narrative represents the many stories that I hear on a regular basis as a psychotherapist and career counselor dealing primarily with gifted young adults. Weed Girl’s story is one of discovery that begins when she comes to therapy for “depression” and discovers that in addition to being depressed, that  she is actually a gifted or high potential young woman who has gone through life thinking something is wrong with her because parents and teachers told her from an early age that she was “too sensitive,” “too intense,” and “asking too many questions.”