Weed Girl – numbing her “rage to achieve”
Smoking weed, drinking and trying some other drugs, Weed Girl preferred the pot smoking which she explains “took the edge off of her brain.”
This was the beginning of Weed Girl’s new lifestyle which landed her in jail and rehab several times each.
Sadly, by the time I met her, Weed Girl was pretty convinced that she was just a big screw-up and had forgotten about any of her strengths.
As with with many gifted people who hear the dual messages of “wow, you’re so smart or creative or talented,” along with the “you’re too much too handle” message, Weed Girl never learned how to cope with her own busy mind.
Instead of developing the essential coping skills for managing what I call a “rage to achieve,” many gifted adults grow up doing exactly what Weed Girl learned to do, that is they learn how to “numb and dumb” their passion and sensitivity by smoking pot not just once a day, but all day every day.
Continued in article Weed Girl, by Belinda Housenbold Seiger, PhD, LCSW.
Also see related post: Gifted and Talented, Drugs and Alcohol
Book: 
A great article, and presents the path I was on during college. Fortunately I recognized the path for where it was taking me, and have given up alcohol and drugs. Unfortunately, and the article doesn’t address this, is what to do about the ‘rage to achieve’ and the ‘insatiable curiousity’? As my coping mechanism in college wasn’t correct, what is the correct adult coping mechanism? High achievement careers don’t seem to be sustainable. Family has helped immensely, but doesn’t satisfy the mental needs, the insatiable curiousity and rage to achieve.
[...] just the glass of white zinfindel that’s sitting next to my keyboard. Like Dr. Sieger’s Weed Girl, I might just need something stronger to take that edge off, to numb the rage to [...]