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    indigo Offline OP
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    Gifted Adult Therapy: The Wounds of Being 'Too Intense'
    Imi Lo
    Psychology Today
    August 19, 2020

    Have you been told you are too much, too sensitive, or too serious?


    Good article, interesting read, worth the time.

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    aeh Offline
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    Thanks for posting this, indigo. Many here can likely identify.


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    Tangential issue: gifted adults parenting gifted children face particular struggles when seeking professional support for their children: who often also don't understand the relevance of giftedness to a child's issues. It's difficult when a parent finds they are often are more well read/researched about their child's issues than the professionals that are supposed to be the "expert" in the situation.

    A dear friend of mine held strongly to the idea that an effective therapist needs to be smarter than you, or think so differently to you that you can't get "past" them. This has always struck me as pretty accurate. I would now further add that it is equally very difficult to trust your children to some who doesn't meet these criteria AND seem to be well versed in the relevance of giftedness to the issues at hand.

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    indigo Offline OP
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    Great insight, MumOfThree.
    smile
    It is my understanding that developing a body of professionals well versed in the relevance of giftedness to life issues was a large part of the reasoning and motivation behind the founding of SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted), back in the 1980s.

    Before his passing, SENG founder James T. Webb co-authored several books for professionals and for parents, including:
    - Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger's, Depression, and Other Disorders
    - Searching for Meaning: Idealism, Bright Minds, Disillusionment, and Hope
    - A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children

    Unfortunately, even after 40 years, there are still relatively few providers which specialize in giftedness:
    - [b][i]SENG list of providers[/i][/b],
    - [b][i]Hoagies' list of Psychologists[/i][/b],
    - Hoagies' Gifted Education Page on [b][i]Counseling the Gifted[/i][/b].

    The Davidson Database provides an article by James T. Webb, PhD, on "Tips for Parents: Selecting the Right Counselor or Therapist for your Gifted Child."

    Hopefully, sustained efforts to raise awareness will continue to increase the number of professionals specializing in gifted.

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    Sadly most of the limited resources that are available are not in my country! But even in the US there are presumably many people for whom professionals on these lists are not accessible either.

    I was about to make a comment about this being one of the issues of being part of a relatively rare population... But "gifted" just isn't that rare. HG, PG are but "gifted" as a group is not much less common than Autism, and that's going with a fairly strict 98% and above definition! It really cannot be explained as a rarity issue.

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    aeh Offline
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    I think it isn't exactly rarity of GT adults that is the issue, but more the rarity of therapists who are GT. Highly capable adults have many options for careers, and the rewards of being a mental health professional are mostly intrinsic. But people have to be able to support themselves and their families, too. Not much (compared to other professions GT adults could enter) of either material or status reward accrues as a social worker or mental health counselor. There is a little more of both for doctoral-level psychologists, but probably not enough to significantly tip the distribution of GT individuals into the profession.

    I don't think the therapist absolutely has to be smarter than the client for a successful therapeutic relationship to develop, but they probably do need to be within shouting distance.


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    And many of them will really not like you if they figure out they aren't.

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    ...but in the end, one gets out of the therapeutic relationship what one puts into it. A motivated individual, GT or not, can learn and grow from an honest relationship with a person of any level of intellect. And a therapeutic professional with a genuine interest in facilitating the growth of their client, without using them as a means of meeting their own psychological needs, can be an effective sounding board even for people they may not fully understand.


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    Originally Posted by aeh
    ...but in the end, one gets out of the therapeutic relationship what one puts into it. A motivated individual, GT or not, can learn and grow from an honest relationship with a person of any level of intellect. And a therapeutic professional with a genuine interest in facilitating the growth of their client, without using them as a means of meeting their own psychological needs, can be an effective sounding board even for people they may not fully understand.

    Love this comment!

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    Originally Posted by aeh
    a therapeutic professional with a genuine interest in facilitating the growth of their client, without using them as a means of meeting their own psychological needs

    That's the biggest issue, I think. A therapist who meets this description is a gem.

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