Academic Performance & Giftedness

Academic performance is a huge source of stress for many people. The pressure to perform whilst also keeping up with a demanding work load can be very difficult to manage emotionally, and therefore it is normal for this pressure to have an impact on you and those around you.

However, sometimes this stress doesn’t go away, and it becomes so difficult to cope with, that it affects your enjoyment of everyday life. In this case, people often benefit from receiving professional support to better manage their stress and improve their learning habits.

This help is not only recommended for those who are struggling with their academic performance, and are wanting to improve their concentration, motivation and organisation skills. This is also sometimes required for those who are academically gifted.

Academically gifted students are people that already achieve very high grades and may excel in comparison to their peers – however, the pressure of maintaining this can begin to take a toll on everyday life. It can often turn into perfectionistic thinking and heightened expectations of oneself, often within one or two areas that they are best at. Anything less than a perfect or extremely high score can lead to disappointment and a feeling of failure.

Regardless of whether you are doing well or not, if the pressure of achieving a high academic performance has become so great that it is negatively impacting on other areas of your life – such as your relationships, your mood, and your behaviour – it may help to see a professional. Our psychologists can help you to achieve the best that you can while reducing the stress associated with achievement or lack of achievement.

This can include:

• Implementing evidence-based techniques to reduce stress and any other negative emotions that are getting in the way of your academic performance
• Providing you with greater skills in organisation, concentration and mindfulness
• Identifying your personal expectations and challenging/improving these
• Relaxation training
• Identifying the thoughts and expectations that trigger your stress, and altering these to have a more productive and positive outlook