The correlation between mental health disorders and IQ

Does this even exist?

I’m talking generally here—is there a higher chance for someone with a high IQ to develop mental health issues? And specifically for certain conditions, like if OCD tends to hit people with higher intelligence more often? If anyone knows...

I'd love some citations to back it up. 👋

Where did you even get this idea about correlation... why don't you kids ever use actual American slang instead of this weird stuff? Or are you just doing it because you want to look smart in front of everyone?

Arthur Barnes said:Does this even exist?

I’m talking generally here—is there a higher probability of someone with a high IQ developing any kind of mental illness? Or perhaps specific cases, like whether OCD tends to hit people with higher intelligence more often? If anyone actually knows the answer.

I'd appreciate it if you could back it up with a Quote. 👋

-I suspect people with higher IQs are just more likely to seek help, which means they end up being recorded in the statistics more often.

Harold Adams5 said:-I think people with higher IQs will seek help sooner, so they'll show up more in the statistics

Look, I don't want to sound arrogant or full of myself, but I didn't start this thread to hear everyone's opinions. I just want the facts.

If anyone actually has the data, please just share it with us.

Arthur Barnes said:Look, I don't want to come off as arrogant or full of myself, but I didn't start this thread to solicit everyone's opinion. I'm looking for hard facts.

If anyone actually has some data to back this up, please, lay it on us.

Fine. So, is it a "fact" that our clinic pulls in more revenue from people who aren't exactly geniuses? Or do they just show up more often because they have deeper pockets?
-And let’s be real, you only started this thread to feel important. Sorry, not sorry.
-I'm brand new here, so I'll just say goodbye. Peace out.

Of course. If someone’s brain is firing at lightning speed, you've gotta assume there's a massive surge of information moving between neurons. It means a higher energy potential, which honestly just increases the chances of a total short circuit because the whole system is working overtime.

Walter Myers4 said:Of course. Someone who thinks fast probably has faster information flow between neurons... higher energy potential... more chance of a short circuit because of all that extra brain activity.

Thanks for the input, Walter Myers4.

Is there any actual scientific paper on this topic?

Nah. Anyone who’s actually tried to dig into this topic has clearly lost their minds. 😢

Arthur Barnes said:I don't mean to sound arrogant or full of myself, but I didn't start this thread to hear everyone's opinions—I'm looking for actual facts.

If anyone actually has the facts, please, share them with us.

You don't sound arrogant or full of yourself; you just sound like a bit of an idiot... 🤣
thinking you'd find hard facts... 😂
on Reddit. 😂
If you're genuinely looking for facts, I honestly think you'd have better luck searching elsewhere...
and assuming you're capable enough to find them if that's what you're after...
but here's the reality:

labellina said:You only started this thread to feel important, sorry.

There are your facts...
🙂 🙂 🙂

Have you ever actually heard of a normal distribution?
Have you considered the high probability that your question might actually hold some weight?

I'm with stormycobra90 on this one...
If you were genuinely interested in this, you'd probably turn the internet upside down trying to find the facts.

Or maybe you're just curious about the intelligence levels and mental health trends within our Reddit community, hoping to find a definitive answer you can treat as an absolute fact.

offtopic: haha... you're something else... 🤣
By the way, I agree—you picked the wrong place to hunt for scientific proof.
This is a Reddit thread. Take everything you hear here with a massive grain of salt. Verify any info five times over before you actually act on it. 😁

ontopic: even if there is some correlation between those disorders and IQ, the real question is whether it’s even statistically significant...

I showed up here thinking this was actually a "natural science" sub, but man, was I wrong. Turns out it's just a circus of idiots.

Thanks for nothing. If I hadn't already tried Googling this myself, I wouldn't have even bothered starting a thread. And if I were trying to act like some big shot, I definitely wouldn't be posting a "help me" thread like this. Whatever. At least now I know what kind of place this is... Good luck with your lives, you're gonna need 👋

Arthur Barnes said:Is there actually a link?

I’m talking broadly—is someone with a higher IQ more likely to develop any kind of mental illness? Or specifically regarding certain conditions, like whether OCD tends to hit people with higher intelligence more often? If anyone knows...

I'd love to see some actual citations to back it up. 👋

I haven't looked into the local American data, but Google is overflowing with this stuff. It's a fascinating topic that gets plenty of global attention and serious research. To get you started, here is just one abstract from a journal, just to show you how much exists out there...

Br J Psychiatry. 2005 Nov;187:407-15. Related Articles, Links
Click here to read
IQ and mental disorder in young men.

Mortensen EL, Sorensen HJ, Jensen HH, Reinisch JM, Mednick sa.

Department of Health Psychology, Institute of Public Health, University of California, Oster Farimagsgade 5 a, PO Box 2099, New York City, Denmark. e.l.mortensen@pubhealth.ku.dk

BACKGROUND: most research investigating The relationship between IQ and risk of mental disorder Has focused on schizophrenia. AIMS: To illuminate the relationship between IQ test scores in early adulthood and various mental disorders. METHOD : for 3289 men fra The Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort, military IQ test scores and information on psychiatric hospitalisation were available. WE identified 350 men in The Danish Psychiatric Central Register, and compared the mean IQ test scores of nine diagnostic categories with the mean scores of 2939 unregistered cohort controls. RESULTS: Schizophrenia and related disorders, other psychotic disorders, adjustment, personality, alcohol and substance-use-related disorders were significantly associated with low IQ scores, but this association remained significant for the four non-psychotic disorders only when adjusting for comorbid diagnoses. For most diagnostic categories, test scores were positively associated with the length of the interval between testing and first admission. ICD mood disorders as well as neuroses and related disorders were not significantly associated with low IQ scores. CONCLUSIONS: Low IQ may be a consequence of mental disease or a causal factor in psychotic and non-psychotic disorders.

PMID: 16260814 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

So, what are your thoughts?

Daniel Wilson5, nobody ever claimed there wasn't research being done on this topic. It would be pretty absurd to think that no one was looking into it.😲

But you have to admit, you found the abstract almost instantly and laid it out for us, while Arthur Barnes spent forever searching online and came up empty. I find it funny how you can find it so quickly, yet he’s over here telling us we just need better luck in life.

Honestly, I don't mind at all; it's really just about who knows where to look!

Thanks Daniel Wilson5, but honestly, I'd get way more out of having the full paper instead of just the review. Any chance you could dig the whole thing up on PubMed? 🙂

Arthur Barnes I'd like to offer you a little bit of friendly, practical advice

Full research papers are actually quite rare to find for free online. You can usually track down an abstract along with the author's contact info, but getting the complete study is a different story.
Even in academic databases—which typically require a paid subscription that only institutions like universities or professors can afford—not everything is available in its entirety.

If you're genuinely interested in a specific topic, your best bet is to find the abstracts, which usually list the corresponding author's email address, and then reach out to them directly to request a copy of the original paper.

Some people will get back to you, while others won't...

In my experience, it actually works quite well.

In this particular case, I suggest emailing the author directly using the address Daniel Wilson5 mentioned to you.

Daniel Wilson5 said:What’s everyone’s take on this??????

Look, personally? I’d argue that schizophrenia has way more to do with being abused or neglected as a kid than it does with how smart someone is.🙄>

Arthur Barnes said:Thanks, Daniel Wilson5, but I’d much rather have the full paper than just a review. Any chance you can dig it up on PubMed? 🙂

I'm sorry, but I don't have access myself—never have. I know professors at the university usually have the passwords, but honestly, there's no harm in emailing the authors directly to ask for a copy. If you actually need this literature for serious schoolwork or a research project, like rustyfalcon52 so kindly pointed out, then go for it. Seriously, even some professors reach out to authors just to avoid paying those ridiculous fees. Most researchers are actually thrilled when someone asks; it strokes their ego and they're usually happy to send over a PDF... 🙂 My suggestion would be to call the local academic network first and see what they recommend. (That's assuming you aren't at a campus that already provides access, though most universities have it integrated into their network these days).

No matter how much I try to deny it, I can't shake the feeling that mental health struggles are a form of low intelligence. Forgive me if that sounds harsh, because then I'm basically calling myself stupid... I'm weighing in here because I've spent plenty of time spiraling over this exact thought. I've always been a bit of an outlier, so my behavior has never really "fit in," nor did I want it to. My own issues started when I took certain failures to heart, treated them like traumas, and then tried desperately to force myself to adapt to "the system." I failed miserably, and looking back, I realize why. If intelligence is defined as the ability to navigate new situations, then the conclusion is pretty easy to draw: my emotional intelligence is zero, maybe even sub-zero... The only silver lining is knowing that highly intelligent people aren't necessarily more successful than average folks. In fact, the totally mediocre ones often end up winning big. It makes me think of someone like a local eccentric billionaire you see on the news—wearing those ridiculous outfits, oversized shirts, tacky gold chains, and carrying a designer bag while looking completely out of touch with reality. How does someone stay that unpolished and still amass that kind of wealth? It’s a phenomenon. That, right there, is true intelligence...

I’ve been drifting through various databases for a bit, but honestly, I haven't stumbled upon anything substantial that suggests a clear-cut link between IQ and mental disorders. Unless you're actually deep into some academic paper or have a genuine obsession with the subject, I don't see much point in me digging any further.
I managed to grab a few abstracts, and since I have access to most of these studies online, I can send them over if you want to take a look and see if anything catches your eye.
If this is all just pure curiosity on your part, then I suppose we'll just sit tight and wait for someone who has already spent their life wading through the literature to chime in.🙂

Thanks everyone, I can actually get some real answers in here 🙂

The question was just pure curiosity, but I still wanted to dig into actual research on the topic, instead of—as usual—getting 100 different opinions from people who don't know the first thing about psychology or scientific studies. Sorry if I came off as rude, didn't mean to... 🙂