Well, first of all, social or emotional maladjustment is not a prerequisite for giftedness. It bothers me a bit to constantly encounter the "correlation" between high IQ and unhappiness.
That's because emotional adjustment or maladjustment often depends on the social-emotional environment.
And the issue is really the individual's developmental arc over a lifetime across various domains.
Exactly.
Having an IQ > 150 wouldn't be a big problem if it weren't for the fact that human beings are inherently social animals, and that such a cognitive state of being is rare by definition. Being an outlier is hard, and when life is hard, most individuals respond with maladaptive coping strategies of one kind or another.
So no-- maladjustment isn't about being gifted. It's about being out of step with the rest of the world.
