Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research ? statistical info regarding depression ?

I'm not going to smack you, but with that reasoning then a male therapist probably can't help a female, and vice versa. And maybe a therapist should have suffered from depression before being able to help someone suffering from depression?

I think the therapist needs to be very well educated for a target clientele to be effective, as well as having other qualities. JMO, and I'm not bound to staying with it.

Thanks for not smacking me!

I see your logic but I think we're comparing apples and oranges. I think if a female patient feels they will be better helped with a female dr. and vice versa, then they will.
In therapuedic realtionship the main ingredient for success is trust, IMHO.
Also, the therapist has to guide the patient to growth without being obvious. Hard to do if the patient is out-thinking the therapist.

I think the therapist would have to be very knowledgable and skilled at working with GT kids at least.

I'd certainly think GTness would be helpful in this area, but I guess I wouldn't be checking IQ scores at the door. A person who simply doesn't understand GTness, hasn't done the reading, doesn't get that GT kids are different, etc., isn't going to be able to be an effective therapist for a GT kid. It would be like trying to work with the blind without understanding that they can't see. You just can't do the job. But how they get the understanding...well, there's probably more than one way to skin that particular cat.

Well, I know my comment is somewhat predjudicial and exhibits inflexible thinking. I'm usually more open-minded. That said, I still think it takes one to know one.
I do realize this can be somewhat offensive and I apologize for that, but stand by my thought on the issue.
But like OHG, I reserve the right to change my stance based on further info.

Well I'm probably going to get smacked again, too but (oops terminal grammatical flaw!) but this IS the kind ofthing that I was referring to in my other thread (bubble bursting) when it devolved to personal history.

I hope you didn't feel too smacked back there!

I got what you were trying to say and it's very valid. If there are a million ways a kid can get into trouble, then watching my DD's thought process in action, there outta be about 10 million ways she could get into trouble.

Well as parents, we do what we can do and hope for the best!

No smacking from here, but when you are in a deep enough depression the only thing you want to know about the therapist is "how can you help me?". Or, in some cases, you don't want to know anything at all about the therapist/doctor because you are not exactly there willingly.

I think if you are going to a therapist for emotional problems it doesn't really matter at the beginning. After you've worked through some of those problems, it might start to matter. The most important thing would be that the therapist didn't shame your giftedness (which does happen, sadly). It also depends on the severity and nature of the problem. When I was in the deepest part of my depression, I didn't care at all. You don't really go "shopping" for one, you just take whatever lifeline is thrown at you. And, I certainly wasn't thinking in terms of giftedness.

If, however, you are talking about a therapist to help a gifted child adjust to a particular situation or to advise on educational options, it makes a world of difference.

And, the drugs made me, too, feel flat, which was actually better than where I had been before. Sometimes flat ain't so bad, when you consider the alternative.

Interesting thread. I can't remember how it got started but interesting thoughts.

I know. All I could think about was throwing myself in front of traffic on the freeway I could see out my window. Eating was a chore because food tasted like sand. Feeling flat was an improvement.

I wasn't really in any kind of coherent state where I could have discussed giftedness. I do think therapy can be helpful even when one is not in a crisis, though. In that case, you really need to feel that the person you are talking to understands you. How they came to that understanding is less important.

When I was 22, my medical doctor sent me to some guy, after a string of psychiatrists that weren't working, her comment :You need to go to someone you can't bullshit.
Ren

I never felt any social pressure except among my age-group.

GT kids get singled out early on by bullies.

When I got to a new school, I got picked on and called a sissy because I carried books around all the time, spent time talking to adults, spent time observing stuff, etc. That got corrected on the soccer and football fields when I deliberately repaid people in kind.

I knew one girl who was a NMF two years before me in HS whose tormentors began picking on her when she was in 2d grade and it continued into HS where the coaches put a stop to it. But it left huge scars.

In another school, there were two kids who were later NMF. One played sports and was never picked on. The other did not and was often slammed into lockers, etc. The latter told me it had been going on since Middle School.