No Radar for Giftedness: What Healthcare Professionals Can Recognize

With considerable hesitation, I asked one of the people I support professionally to write something for the adult newsletter.
I can tell you this: I’m so glad I asked! The testimony is incredibly clarifying.

I still find it difficult to put into words just how differently things unfold with such a “differently wired” brain. I consciously steer clear of the word gifted, because for many people it triggers strong resistance — and continues to do so.

Is there a radar to pick up clients with a gifted brain?

You can’t see it when someone walks in. One person may enter quietly, perhaps even a bit shy. Another may walk in with confident strides. There is no radar that allows you to “label” someone based on behavior.

And yet, I do dare to say that you can notice patterns, that there are things you can recognize. These are often people who seek support because their functioning keeps going off track. They frequently tell a story in which the timeline seems highly erratic and unpredictable, yet in another way strangely predictable.

Things go well for a while. The professional challenge is interesting, relevant, and enjoyable. There is plenty of space to do things their own way. And then suddenly… without any objective explanation, it becomes increasingly dull. Things move too slowly. Someone in the organization decides there has been enough freewheeling. The system, the signatures, and the deadlines become more important than the process. Creating and being meaningful matter less. And then — off they go to the next project, preferably something very different and even more complex…

After a series of successful and less successful projects and collaborations, they eventually come knocking on your door. “It must be me,” you often hear in their opening story. They arrive — sometimes almost reluctantly — at a care professional. Because what could this person possibly still do? The familiar exercises and personal development plans have to be filled in. “Boring and predictable,” the client thinks. “But I’ll go along with it anyway, just to make the coach or psychologist feel like they’re doing their job. Because ‘no one’ seems to understand me, so I might as well conform here too…”

As a coach, I invariably begin by asking quite a few questions about cognitive functioning. And just as invariably, the answers are yes. And yet. For some reason, it doesn’t land. Because to them, it feels “completely normal” to spot patterns in a quick scan. To come up with a whole range of solutions almost instantly. To rapidly sort large amounts of information in a case that genuinely interests them, with the approach practically ready from the start.

That only changes when you start asking questions at a different level — and begin from (h)recognition. From acknowledging how difficult it is to be seen as someone for whom nothing is ever good enough. To keep running into a constant “yes, but” when you see and propose solutions. To feel the pain of watching positions and egos matter more than a clear-eyed analysis. Or of having drive and initiative interpreted as a need for validation. To be labeled as “always” or “too critical,” when all you feel is a genuine desire to help. Or to struggle with praise, because you simply feel you were lucky that your idea worked.

When that recognition truly sinks in, I feel, as a coach: yes! Then I can open the toolbox and let them freewheel within it. From that recognition, I try to walk alongside them, so they can express what they need to, do their own thing, and at the same time accept that others are different.

I help them see that with this insight, they may find more inner calm. Make peace with who they are. Begin to recognize what they need in order to keep functioning, to identify systems that do work for them. And in doing so, to once again create space for the energy they have to create and to be meaningful — in their own interest, and in that of their organization, their network, and yes, society as a whole.

More and more healthcare professionals recognize these patterns in gifted adults who get stuck in work, relationships, or within themselves. Anyone who wants to better understand their way of thinking, meaning-making, and functioning quickly discovers that classic support frameworks often fall short.

Hoogbloeier® offers training programs, study days, and in-depth learning pathways (in Dutch) for healthcare professionals who want to strengthen their expertise in giftedness in adults. In our trainings, we connect scientific insights with hands-on practice and provide frameworks that help professionals interpret behavior more accurately, tailor guidance more effectively, and make sustainable change possible.

Copyright © 2026 Katrien Bartholomeeusen – All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author. Sharing online is permitted provided the author is credited and a link to this article is included.