Comments

The rise of the "bipolar disorder" diagnosis is really horrible. Real bipolar disorder is not simply being moody--not even incredibly moody. It means being so moody that you stop connecting with reality.

Here are some things that happen to people who REALLY HAVE bipolar disorder do:

they put plastic flowers in the ground and think they will grow into real flowers.

They answer the phone and hear Satan talking to them repeatedly.

They believe that they can perform magic tricks like actually pulling a rabbit out of their hat--and think they have;

They tell their children that their father isn't really their father, but the man in the moon is.

Telling moody teenagers that they are broken is not a way for them to learn to handle the ups and downs of life. Telling moody teenagers that they are cripples who must be medicated into some strange set of unreal emotions for every day of the rest of their lives is not a way for them to learn that they are vibrant, creative people. Telling them that they are equivalent to people who hear Satan call is grossly cruel.

Teenagers have unstable neurochemistry. Drugs like depakote are --- well, not good for developing stability in adults because they inhibit the processes of developing the mind. It makes the children unable to think. It makes the bright ones unable to do difficult thoughts or tasks. It interferes with complicated reasoning.

oh, and one more lovely side effect? You convince kids they need meds, and they see very little reason to avoid self-medicating, especially when those drugs feel very good compared to depakote.

Drugs like depakote were invented for inpatient adults, and tested on inpatients. Not on people who were required to function in the world. To deprive children of the process of learning to negotitate the real world on their own terms is terrible.

-- KtmGuest - 02 Aug 2005

I always think of James Webb as the "godfather" of gifted books. His original book, (Guiding the Gifted, I think?) was helpful in a lot of ways, but focuses more on the class of gifted thought of as high or profound. I believe his child falls into that category.

One thing that struck me in Guiding the Gifted was when he points out that once IQ's start heading over 150-160, you need to go ahead and line up your kid's psychiatrist. The difficulties for the profoundly gifted are more immense than one might think. Since most of us aren't in that range, it's hard to understand what could be the problem. I remember him saying that we could start by imagining what it would be like to live in a world where the vast majority of people in the world are 50 IQ points lower than you. That alone can alert you to the possible difficulties and challenges to these kids and that the problem will simply not take care of itself.

There are a lot of good books for parents whose kids are not in that profoundly gifted category, but who need some guidance. A good source (for LD, as well) is Free Spirit Publishing. There are also a lot of touchy-feely self esteem books, but my main interest in them has been because they have LD/ADHD books right next to gifted.

Books about gifted kids being misdiagnosed seem to out there, but in more of an anti-med, and even anti-syndrome kind of way. Gifted kids can have ADHD, as well as other disorders, just like any other kid. It's just the dual diagnosis is tricky to navigate and, I think, requires doctors who understand both issues well.

-- SusanS - 02 Aug 2005

The rise of the "bipolar disorder" diagnosis is really horrible. Real bipolar disorder is not simply being moody--not even incredibly moody. It means being so moody that you stop connecting with reality.

You know--apparently there are a couple of varieties of bipolar (well, no doubt there are a zillion varieties, but that's a different story....)

Unfortunately, I have zero recollection of where I read this (maybe one of the Dana Foundation publications?)

You're describing psychosis, and there seems to be some kind of gene-or-genes specifically for psychosis. (PLEASE don't quote me on this; I've got the jist, but not the details.)

So.....a personal can, apparently, be severely bipolar but not psychotic.

I hope I've got that right, and if I haven't, I'm going to drop in a correction.

A person can also be, as you've said, severely bipolar and profoundly delusional.

Both are incredibly destructive, but they're still different.

If I'm remembering correctly, I don't think Kay Jamison describes herself as being wildly delusional in manic states.

Her actions & behavior were horribly destructive, but the 'delusions' were more along the lines of 'I have infinite energy, I have infinite brillianc, I have infinite money'.....

Please, anyone who knows more about this, chime in, or shoot me an email

-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Aug 2005

Also, you mentioned drugs.....I gather that's another problem with the expansion of the bipolar diagnosis, which is that some clinicians are mistaking drug problems for bipolar disorder.

A neighbor of mine, who is a therapist, was involved in a situation like this. A friend of hers had a teenager who'd been hospitalized with bipolar disorder, and prescribed meds.

She said it was obvious the teenager did not have bipolar disorder, but a drug problem. So she worked with the parents to address that problem, which they managed to do.

That's a very distressing story, because a drug problem in a teenager isn't exactly a walk in the park. It's HUGE, and everyone was busy addressing the wrong issue.

I'll say again: I owe my kids' lives to psychiatrists, to researchers, and to pharmaceutical companies.

I love these folks (literally in some cases!).

But given that, because of my life circumstances, I'm an 'insider,' I also feel it's right for me to disagree with practices that strike me as wrong.

-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Aug 2005

One thing that struck me in Guiding the Gifted was when he points out that once IQ's start heading over 150-160, you need to go ahead and line up your kid's psychiatrist. The difficulties for the profoundly gifted are more immense than one might think.

Boy, that's interesting.

Wow.

I assume I'm in the '3%' (I hope that's not disgusting boasting...) and as a matter of fact, I can't imagine what extraordinary giftedness would be like.

What really struck me was that I've spent quite a lot of time being diagnosed with 'mild variants' of all of the disorders he mentions, except for Asperger syndrome or autism. (That's always funny. I have 2 autistic kids, plus probably 1 autistic parent, and the ONE disorder nobody thinks I have is autism!)

I've been so immersed in the 'spectrum' notion that it hadn't occurred to me that there are other ways of seeing people like me (and there are a lot of us!)

I was reading a nice little write-up of sickle cell anemia this weekend, saying that the gene for sickle cell protects carriers against malaria. It's when you have two of the genes that you're in trouble.

Of course, I knew that, but I hadn't thought to apply it to myself.

Suddenly it occurs to me that I may have the gene(s)-you're-supposed-to-have, while my kids have too much of these genes.

I realize this is an oversimplification.

In any case, that would explain why I'm not 'verging' on true bipolar disorder or 'true' ADHD--it would explain why people like me not only don't 'tip,' but aren't going to tip.....

Well, let's hope no Actual Geneticists read this comment!

-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Aug 2005

Gifted kids can have ADHD, as well as other disorders, just like any other kid. It's just the dual diagnosis is tricky to navigate and, I think, requires doctors who understand both issues well.

Whenever you're inspired to write more about this, I hope you will. (btw, I think I mentioned that I haven't pulled your 'fatigue' comment up front yet, because I want to send it in to the Carnival of Education--)

-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Aug 2005

One thing that struck me in Guiding the Gifted was when he points out that once IQ's start heading over 150-160, you need to go ahead and line up your kid's psychiatrist.

You know,I have mixed feelings about this. I've had many experiences, even with my own modest IQ, of seeing a counselor and finding that they seemed jarringly dull (of course, perhaps they were merely holding back their brilliant insights so I could construct them on my own). My mother, who has had severe schizophrenia for years, used to have great fun toying intellectually with her counselors.

So if you're going to line up a shrink for your gifted kid, line up a smart one. I would imagine that visiting a typical shrink might make a gifted kid feel lonelier than ever.

-- CarolynJohnston - 02 Aug 2005

perhaps they were merely holding back their brilliant insights so I could construct them on my own

I'm sure that was it!

-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Aug 2005

My mother, who has had severe schizophrenia for years, used to have great fun toying intellectually with her counselors.

oh gosh

-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Aug 2005

A therapist/counselor definitely has to be on top of that if they're going to do any good. I don't know if you have to be gifted intellectually to play with people, though.

I remember long ago in another life, I decided to try therapy. Well, I could babble on and on with the best of them. I must have sounded like a character from a bad soap opera. I had read every self-help book for years so I thought I sounded quite self-aware until the therapist just quietly looked at me and said, "Oh, you've got it all figured out." I read her comment as "Seriously, you really don't have it figured out at all." She wasn't insulting or condescending, but rather was trying to show me that I had managed to intellectualize and compartmentalize every life experience thus far, and that had really only taken me so far. It was time for something else.

Speaking of gifted and genetics, I remember having this conversation with a psychologist who specialized in gifted issues. I had gone to him because I wanted to have hard IQ evidence of the math kid's giftedness in case the school wasn't going to intervene. I was also perfectly prepared to hear from him that my son was just good ole' average. Anyway, while I was introducing myself on the phone and describing my son, the psychologist asked me which parent was gifted, my husband or me. I was a bit stunned by the question so the only thing I could come back with was, "Whoever won the last argument."

While we don't use labels around the house (I have never used the word "gifted" with math kid or learning disabled with my other son), my husband and I have a quiet running gag with each other. If one of us does or says something dumb, the other never misses a chance to say, "You are soooo not the gifted parent."

-- SusanS - 02 Aug 2005

the other never misses a chance to say, "You are soooo not the gifted parent."

I like that one. Can I use it?

-- CarolynJohnston - 02 Aug 2005

If one of us does or says something dumb, the other never misses a chance to say, "You are soooo not the gifted parent."

OK, straight into Wit & Wisdom!

-- CatherineJohnson - 03 Aug 2005