It’s an interesting question that yields different answers, depending on who you talk to. Is there a link between IQ, the ability to learn, reason, and solve problems, and depression, and does a higher IQ increase your vulnerability to depression and other mental health disorders?
The truth is that science hasn’t settled the matter. Researchers are still investigating the nature of the relationship between intelligence and depression and other mental health issues. Here is some of what we know.
IQ and Depression: Is There a Link?
Some recent research has found a correlation between intelligence and depression—and still other mental health disorders. Researchers at Pitzer College found in 2015 that people with a high IQ tend to be more sensitized to stimuli, reacting with more intense emotions, and that this “overexcitability” predisposes them to mental disorders like depression.
In this case, all test subjects were members of “American Mensa,” membership for which requires an IQ within the top two percentile. They were asked to share data like age, gender, IQ, daily stress levels, and whether they had any history of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, ADHD/ADD, ASD, food allergies, environmental allergies, asthma, and autoimmune disorders. Their answers, when compared to national data, revealed a higher prevalence of not just depression and mood disorders but the other seven health issues.
In other words, if you’re extremely smart according to traditional measures of intelligence, your chances of developing depression (a mood disorder) and/or other mental health issues could be a good deal higher.
High Intelligence and Bipolar Disorder
Research elsewhere has looked at the connection between IQ and a specific type of depression or mood disorder known as “bipolar disorder.” (Depression, understood in more clinical terms, belongs to a category of conditions known as “mood disorders,” and there are many.)
In 2019, researchers at the Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research investigated the DNA of 20,000 people with bipolar disorder and found that 12 risk genes for the condition were also associated with intelligence. This led them to conclude that intelligence correlated with a higher risk of bipolar disorder.
Other research has uncovered similar answers to the question of whether bipolar disorder is more common in people with above average intelligence. Previous studies have found that straight-A students in elementary school are more prone to bipolar disorder in adulthood, as are people whose childhood IQ scores were 10 points above average. The condition is more prevalent among people with high creative and verbal intelligence, according to other findings. (Strikingly, researchers have found that anxiety disorders occur at higher rates in those with high verbal intelligence.)
“It’s Complicated” – What Other Evidence Shows
If there is a neurobiological downside to being smart, though, it would be misleading to end here. There is also evidence to suggest that high intelligence is not a risk factor for depression. For example, a study in 2023 in the journal European Psychiatry explored the prevalence of mental health disorders in more than 500,000 individuals with average and above average intelligence and determined that, contrary to previous studies, high intelligence did not have more bearing on whether people developed a mental health condition.
Earlier research in 2009 went further. It noted a correlation between low IQ and major depression and said intelligence reduced the risks of certain disorders like anxiety and PTSD.
Ongoing investigation should shed more light on the complicated link between IQ and depression. In the meantime, and as rates of depression rise worldwide, it helps to know that the condition can impact anyone and is not a sign of weakness—and that treatment can help.
Published by: Martin De Juan
