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I'm in high school and for some reason this semester I've been completely underachieving. It isn't that I can't do the work it's mostly that I've gotten tired of doing the same thing over and over again year after year.

I don't know why either, it could possibly be that I'm just not happy at school anymore. I need help trying to get out of this funk so that I don't flunk this semester.

Sorry to hear this Prodigy Angel.

Quite a few gifted teens get something called existential depression. You might want to look it up and see if it fits with you. If it does, get any help you need. It isn't a fun place to be. (Does anyone know a good link for this - I could only find stuff for parents? If no-one finds anything better I'll post that.)

Another alternative is that you are 'just' bored. I say 'just' because it can be a real problem when you are that bored. When I was a teenager, I found outside challenges were what kept me going. I actually did better at school when I was living on the border of having too much to do. Some of my challenges were trying to learn to write in Egyptian hiroglyphs, teaching myself some computer programming and trying to reform drop-kick boyfriends. I wouldn't recommend the last one, it's a waste of time

Wishing you all the best,
GeoMamma

It doesn't sound existential depression-ish. I remember going through the existential depression phase.

I found acting in a play to be fun in high school. Model Constitutional Convention and debating on the floor actual House of Representatives.

I recommend avoiding reading and playing computer games 24 hours a day.

First, I would make sure that you have ruled out physical causes for this. Anemia, which can come on gradually and has many causes, can make you tired and cause you to lack concentration and energy. Mononucleosis and some other infections can, too. So can hypothyroidism, other illnesses, and many medications.

Existential depression, or frustration with the way things are in contrast to the way you think they should be or would like them to be could certainly be contributing. If this is how you feel, have you tried discussing this with your parents or with some other adult you know and trust? You might want to try to find a counselor who is familiar with giftedness and possibly with Dabrowski''s theory of positive disintegration.

If you are feeling like you are not learning anything new, and that you haven't learned anything new in too long, you may be able to advocate for yourself or have your parents advocate for you to get more interesting and challenging work.

While you are working on those other things, you might try some simple strategies to motivate yourself so that your grades aren't affected too badly by this:

You might try writing down everything you need to work on or finish each day, and checking each task off as you accomplish it, with some highly motivating reward for yourself (like an hour of video game time, or watching your favorite program, or talking with your friends, or playing music, or reading) that you can't have until everything on the list for that day is done. A full week's worth of getting everything on the list done should earn you bigger reward.

You might try making a contract with a friend, teacher, or parent to check your assignments over every morning or evening to see if you have done your work. Just knowing that you will have to 'fess up relatively soon if you put off the work can sometimes be enough motivation to help you get it done.

You may be able to turn completing your work into a game, or find ways to work some creative or engaging aspects into it. ProTip: I don't recommend the old game of trying to start each sentence of your writing assignments with the next consecutive letter of the alphabet unless you are sure that the assignment won't be more than 23 sentences or so.(Teachers really will notice and most will not be amused if you try to work "xeric" or "xenophobic" and "Zoroastrianism", "zoology", or "zeolites" in as initial words in an English literature essay just so you don't break the pattern...)

I hope you feel better about everything and get your motivation and energy back soon.

Cliff's notes:

Existential depression is a depression that arises when an individual confronts certain basic issues of existence. Yalom (1980) describes four such issues (or "ultimate concerns")--death, freedom, isolation and meaninglessness. Death is an inevitable occurrence. Freedom, in an existential sense, refers to the absence of external structure. That is, humans do not enter a world which is inherently structured. We must give the world a structure which we ourselves create. Isolation recognizes that no matter how close we become to another person, a gap always remains, and we are nonetheless alone. Meaninglessness stems from the first three. If we must die, if we construct our own world, and if each of us is ultimately alone, then what meaning does life have?


Needs �(TNS) of the Gifted Adolescent
For Knowledge: To know and comprehend the nature or meaning of phenomena as opposed to simply inferring or believing. This need profiles in the gifted adolescent psyche in three ways:
The need to understand myself (in the immediate sense and in the greater existential sense of "what is my place in the cosmos?")
The need to understand physical and spiritual phenomena
An often unmet reciprocal need to be understood by others
For Communion: To be able to exchange thoughts and emotions or share something in common involving strong emotional or spiritual exchange.
For Expression: To be able to transform into words or manifest an emotion or feeling without words through music or art or some other nonverbal means.

At the core of the experience is the gifted teen's absolute need for knowledge for communion and for expression. The analysis revealed that the gifted adolescent is at risk for varying degrees of depression when any or all of these needs are stymied. In particular, meeting communion needs - for meaningful spiritual and emotional exchange - proved problematic for the gifted teen who is often isolated because of extraordinary innate cognitive and emotional complexity. The results from this study have strong implications for specific developmental support and for appropriate therapeutic intervention.

End Quote.

Don't know what to tell you. �Hmm. �You're in school. �There's an online forum like this that's made by and for gifted teens and young adults. �It's called Gifted Haven.�
Cogito is a gifted teen's talent search forum, for some inspirational peers. �(online). Thing is just to find somebody who wants to listen, right?! �Or talk!

I'm working through some things on this list. �My grandfather just died. �My hubby's aunt too. My four year old is processing the idea of death in front of me. �It's intense. �He's not being intense, dramatic, or morbid about it, but a little too clear in trying to process it. � His reaction got to me. �A little bit sad and afraid but also he was more grossed out deep inside that these things really happen. �I've never seen that. �I've only seen people be sad about what the loss means. �It's been a deep experience seeing all this with him around. �Talk about the Serenity Prayer. �Lucky for us I'm old enough not to worry so much about being deeply understood, and he's young enough for at least his doting parents to mostly understand him still. �Correction, I have more important things in my life, people in my life, who currently supersede my desire to be understood. � So, we've got that advantage over a gifted adolescent. �And we don't struggle with freedom issues at this point, being new parents and young children. �LoL, you want help with your problem and I just talk about me. �Ah, I thought of a way to tie it in together. �Existential depression isn't sadness, it's just the awareness that you're a rat in a cage. �I second the motion that you make your own amusement, and talk to someone older that you trust, maybe get professional help, but also go check out those two forums to seek some water of your own level.

Well, we've gone from "I'm an unhappy underachiever" to "death" in a few short posts.

I really like this forum!

Anyhow, I would try that Gifted Haven or Cogito thingy.

What year of high school are you?

What are your plans for after high school?

I think you need to find a purpose, some end goal that you are working towards, instead of writing another damn analysis of Lady Macbeth's motivations.

Do you have any interests that could translate into a career later on? Any career counsellors at school who could help you explore possibilities?