Lots of good explanations in this thread, but I'll add my own: I'd call it the trap of the gifted, rather than the curse. That trap has three prongs: 1) Gift

Lots of good explanations in this thread, but I'll add my own: I'd call it the trap of the gifted, rather than the curse. That trap has three prongs: 1) Gifted people get concepts right away, almost effortlessly. 2) Because it's so easy for them, they never have to work at learning. It just happens for them. 3) Being so good at something earns praise from their teachers, parents, friends, etc. This often becomes central to their self-esteem. This is fine until the day when their giftedness alone simply doesn't cut it. It could be in high school, or college, or graduate school or maybe even at some point in their professional career. But eventually it stops being easy and this is usually a very traumatic event. Because of the three prongs of the trap, the gifted person finds themselves in a very hard situation. First, they are not used to frustration because previously they got everything right away. Second, they have no persistence because they've never had to work hard. Third, they become anxious and afraid and possibly even become depressed because they are no longer "smart" (at least by their own definition). Being gifted isn't a curse or a trap in and of itself, but it can lead to a certain kinds of bad habits. Schools and parents tend not to do a very good job correcting these bad habits, which can lead to big problems.