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Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger's, Depression, and Other Disorders ADHD or Gifted? You Might Want To Get A Second Opinion With unprecedented media attention being given to disorders such as ADHD, OCD and Bipolar Disorder, you’d be hard-pressed to find a parent who isn’t aware of the symptoms that accompany such disorders – hyperactivity, impulsiveness, inattentiveness, impatience, just to name a few. But, did you know that these same “symptoms” are also characteristics of many gifted and talented children? If you answered “no,” you’re not alone. Pediatricians, psychologists, counselors, and psychiatrists are diagnosing children with ADHD, OCD, ODD, Asperger’s, and even Bipolar Disorder, when the true diagnosis may be “gifted.” In their award-winning book, two clinical psychologists, two neuropsychologists, an educational psychologist, and a pediatrician--all of whom are nationally known--attempt to correct such misdiagnoses, while also bringing attention to disorders that may accompany giftedness. According to Dr. James Webb, lead author of the new book Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults, intellectually advanced children display many of the same characteristics as children with attention, anxiety, or behavior disorders. And while health care professionals are well versed in recognizing and diagnosing pathologies such as ADHD, few are trained to recognize traits of giftedness. “Bright, creative children may show some of the same behaviors as children with ADHD,” notes Dr. Webb. “They may have a hard time standing still and have many interests. Gifted children are also intense and can be misdiagnosed as having OCD because of their perfectionism. Bright children who are socially awkward may be misdiagnosed as Asperger’s Disorder. Yet professionals seldom receive training in common behaviors of gifted individuals.” As a result, we are unnecessarily medicating many of our best and brightest youth with drugs like Ritalin, Prozac, Lithium, and Paxil, and counseling them inappropriately. Such treatments may diminish their intellectual potential. “It is time that we trained health care professionals to give correct assessments to gifted, talented, and creative children and adults,” suggests Dr. Webb. “We must help professionals gain sufficient understanding so that they no longer misinterpret characteristics of giftedness.” Making a major contribution toward this goal is the new book Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults. The expert insights of six nationally prominent health care professionals in this groundbreaking book offer detailed techniques that help parents and professionals distinguish between gifted and pathological behaviors. Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger's, Depression, and Other Disorders (Great Potential Press, $32.95 Hardcover; $24.95 Paperback) By James T. Webb, Ph.D.; Edward R. Amend, Psy.D., Nadia E. Webb, Psy.D., Jean Goerss, M.D., Paul Beljan, Psy.D., and F. Richard Olenchak, Ph.D. For more information about this award-winning resource, or to schedule an interview with one of the expert authors, please contact: Kristina Reid Director of Marketing Great Potential Press, Inc. PO Box 5057 Scottsdale, AZ 85261-5057 Toll Free: 877-954-4200 Fax: 602-954-0185 kristina@giftedbooks.com www.giftedbooks.com |
Book Excerpt
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Preface This book describes a modern tragedy. Many of our brightest, most creative, most independent thinking children and adults are being incorrectly diagnosed as having behavioral, emotional, or mental disorders. They are then given medication and/or counseling to change their way of being so that they will be more acceptable within the school, the family, or the neighborhood, or so that they will be more content with themselves and their situation. The tragedy for these mistakenly diagnosed children and adults is that they receive needless stigmatizing labels that harm their sense of self and result in treatment that is both unnecessary and even harmful to them, their families, and society. Other equally bright children and adults experience another misfortune. Their disorders are obscured because, with their intelligence, they are able to cover up or compensate for their problems, or people mistakenly think that they are simply quirkily gifted. And there is another group of intellectually gifted children and adults who suffer from very real disorders, but neither they nor the treating professionals are aware that their disorders are related in any way to their brightness or creativity. We—the six authors of this book, all of whom are practicing clinical health care professionals—independently came to the alarming conclusion that many very bright people are suffering needlessly because of misdiagnosis and dual diagnoses. Each of us, during the past 20 or more years, became aware that in our clinical practices, we were seeing patients who were misdiagnosed by other practitioners—professionals who were well-trained and well-respected. Sometimes the characteristics of giftedness were misinterpreted. Other times the characteristics of gifted children and adults obscured the clinical disorders. And in still other situations, the diagnosis was accurate, but the giftedness component needed to be incorporated into treatment planning. In 2003, after talking informally at several professional meetings about these issues, we decided—somewhat hesitatingly—to write this book. We hesitated because we knew that our ideas were not in the mainstream of either psychology or medicine. We knew also that our ideas would be controversial to some. But we also believed that our information was accurate and would be very helpful to children, parents, and professionals. We frankly hope that our ideas will soon be more widely accepted in the health care professions. During the last 10 years or so, the authors—competent and very experienced professionals in psychology, psychiatry, and pediatrics—all reported that they were seeing many patients who have been referred to them with diagnoses such as ADD/ADHD, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, or Bipolar Disorder. Upon examination, we discovered that many of these patients had been seriously misdiagnosed—that, in fact, they were gifted individuals who were in situations in which the people around them did not sufficiently understand or accept behaviors that are inherent to people who are intellectually or creatively gifted. Our experiences have led us to the realization that misdiagnoses are being made by otherwise well-meaning and well-trained professionals. We are convinced that misdiagnosis of gifted children and adults is not only a very real phenomenon, but also one that is very widespread. How is this possible? How could this happen? Don’t physicians, psychologists, nurses, nurse practitioners, and other health care professionals learn about the behavioral, emotional, and intellectual characteristics of gifted children and adults? The answer is no. In fact, these professionals receive extremely little, if any, training about the intellectual characteristics and diversity of gifted children and adults, and even less about their typical social, emotional, and behavioral characteristics and needs. That lack of information is the largest single reason for the frequent misdiagnoses—and the subsequent reason for this book. |