Treating the "wise baby".

In a previous examination of Ferenczi's concept of the "Wise Baby" (1996), I had noted both its applications and its limitations in the analytic treatment of an unusually intelligent adult. Ferenczi's concepts of "the origin of intellect in trauma" and of "the wise baby" have often left the indistinct impression of being interrelated phenomena. In this paper, I regard as arguable the notion that very high intelligence is pathological when it is "precocious." This return visit to the territory of the "wise baby" extends Ferenczi's ideas about the "origin" and use of the intellect to include a consideration of what may constitute effective "treatment" for those who suffer from giftedness.