Intense curiosity, a drive to acquire and master new information, a protean imagination, spontaneous insights, leaps of intuition, clairvoyance, a finely tuned aesthetic sense, a razor sharp intellect , a capacity for being inspired and uncanny physical abilities are the hallmarks of giftedness. Even though they are hard to quantify let alone measure against statistical norms, they are the core of a gifted endowment .These elusive qualities, make it possible to learn, understand, remember, process and elaborate ideas and concepts at advanced levels. They are the building blocks for spectacular accomplishments in music, art, literature,science mathematics and atheletics.They also allow gifted individuals to experience the world in deep ,rich complex ways and imagine enormous possibilities .When all the elements of a gifted endowment operate in synergy, gifted individuals can feel intense pride,surges of personal power – even a sense of spiritual exhilaration.
However, these special qualities of gifteness and the overall experience of being gifted can also stimulate feelings of alienation, isolation , detachment, dissociation, as well as feelings of disillusionment, meaninglessness and insignificance. These are the symptoms of an Existential Depression.