Harnessing the Power of Emotional Intensity: Helping the passion gifted students feel on a daily ...

1. 1. Extreme Emotions: Emotional swings between positive and negative at an ever-quickening pace. Internalizing feelings of sadness, stress, and anxiety.

1.1. Teach emotional vocabulary

1.1.1. Help them talk through their emotions

1.1.2. This helps them learn how to talk about how they're feeling and eventually manage their behavior

1.2. Teach children about their escalation cycles

1.2.1. They may not be aware of their cycle

1.2.2. Once they are aware of it, they can more easily understand it

1.2.3. They can learn to anticipate and regulate their reactions

1.3. Understand your own escalation cycle

1.3.1. Gifted children push parents and teachers buttons

1.3.2. Knowing your cycle can help you prevent them getting to you

1.3.3. Others will be able to stay calm during these outbursts

2. 2. Extreme Empathy: They sympathize with others and can easily be hurt by others. They are highly self-critical if they unintentionally hurt others.

2.1. Teach children to discern situations

2.1.1. Help them distinguish between a friends problem and theirs or discern between various stressful situation

2.1.2. Learn to tell which problems they need to solve

2.2. Normalize emotional intensity

2.2.1. They see their empathy as a negative trait which makes them more negative in general

2.2.2. Emphasize the positive aspects of their extreme empathy

2.2.3. They need to know that feeling this way is normal for them. This makes it more manageable without making it negative

2.3. Help gifted children develop coping strategies, especially relaxation and mindfulness

2.3.1. Helps them manage their behavior

2.3.2. Learn relaxation strategies, give them time to get caught up to their emotions

3. 3. Physical Manifestations of Emotional Intensity: Shown through stomachaches, headaches, heart palpitations, and anxiety-like behaviors.

3.1. Teach and empathize healthy lifestyle choices

3.1.1. Healthy foods will help keep their body ready to take on these physical reactions

3.1.2. Balance work and play using physical outlets or exercise

3.1.3. Without this, students can worsen their symptoms and increase their frustration

3.2. Teach mindfulness

3.2.1. Use meditation or prayer or a more secular version of mindfulness

3.2.2. They need to be able to become fully aware of the moment as well as aware of their internal state

3.2.3. Teaching them how to pause their busy lives and mentally check in helps them when they need to stop and balance their lives

3.3. Use biofeedback and similar strategies to manage physical symptoms

3.3.1. Allow children to learn to purposefully control their physiological responses

3.3.2. Neurofeedback trains the brain similarly

3.3.3. Learn to harness the positive aspects of their emotions and mitigate the negative aspects

4. 4. Existential Depression: Results in behaviors that mimic generalized anxiety and panic attacks. Children wresting with their internal purpose may engage in morbid thought patterns that involve death or dying.

4.1. Discover the personal "why"

4.1.1. Helps them discover their passions at a young age

4.1.2. Helps frame how they interact with the world and give meaning to their internal drive

4.1.3. As soon as the child can discuss their values and passions, adults should start help them discovering their why

4.2. Align the child with like-minded peers and adults

4.2.1. It's never too early to find a mentor or establish a tribe

4.2.2. Help gifted children find other gifted peers with similar interests and adult role models to help them approach self-actualization

4.2.3. These friendships can help during periods of existential depression and help manage emotional intensity

4.3. Engage in open dialogue and safe spaces

4.3.1. Often an existential crisis comes with silencing or distancing response instead of open communication

4.3.2. They need someone to talk to when they're worried about their future to someone to help them work through their extreme emotions. Giving them some strategies on how to work though this as they get older

4.3.3. Talking in a safe space can help them realize that their intense passion isn't a bad thing but a really wonderful and beautiful thing.