I frequently recommend three books to help my clients (1) realize they are gifted, which is something they often knew as children but lost after leaving high school, (2) begin to better understand and accept themselves as gifted adults, (3) begin to frame their difficulties at work and in relationships from a giftedness perspective, and (4) conclude they might be happier if they seek out challenging and supportive environments where their strengths will be embraced and appreciated.
1. Liberating Everyday Genius: A Revolutionary Guide For Identifying and Mastering Your Exceptional Gifts (1999) by Mary-Elaine Jacobsen is a book that I recommend to people who are exceptionally bright because it helps them to understand they are gifted, and how gifted people are different.
2. Gifted Grownups: The Mixed Blessings of Extraordinary Potential (1999) by Marylou Kelly Streznewski prompts the exceptionally bright to recognize themselves in the vignettes of other gifted adults presented in the book.
3. Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults (2005) by James Webb, Edward Amend, Nadia Webb, Jean Goerss, Paul Beljan, and Richard Olenchak is a helpful book because it outlines how normal behaviours for the gifted can be pathologized when not viewed from the appropriate perspective.
— Dr. Patricia Turner, Registered Psychologist, Calgary, Alberta