I had read an article on overexcitability and gifted students on SENG. I wondered if many parents of gifted teens find the same issues during these years regarding what seems like inflated emotional reponses to everyday teen issues. It sometimes seems like my teen is quick to argue, loose his temper, and become hurt or sensitive over coments that seem to take him over the threshold.

He has also been dx ADHD over a year ago. It seems like the medication helped him focus and concentrate on longer tasks. My hunch with our current issues seem to lead me to Dabrowski's work on overexcitabilities of gifted students with a combination of ADHD.

Has anyone else experienced similar thoughts?

I have ADD and was labeled highly/exceptionally gifted. People thought I was emotionally handicapped; I considered that possibility, and then I learned of overexcitabilites from SENG. Since then, SENG and I have been the best of buds.

Experiences that I that unique to me were actually documented in research journals, which made me feel less wierd.

I am 19 years old, and can vividly recall, even by my own tastes, being sensitive to the point where I questioned if I were paranoid by the DSM-IV.

JustaMom,

Do you find that holidays and birthdays are very wound up? Does he take change well? Ours doesn't. I'm most intrigued by your post. For years I wondered if we were inept parents. Ours is now 27 and doing well. (anxiety and hypersensitivity still there, just much less. We spent a few days on vacation with him and our other son and he had an anxiety attack, being away from his dissertation work, stressing. ) We've always found that when he was taken out of his environment and routines, he was not comfortable. Birthdays and holidays were very wound up. The overexcitability was sooooooooo difficult to live with. It wore us out to no end. It affected his younger 2 bros. It's some comfort to know it's inborn. The last blowup was when he was 22 and by then they were infrequent anyway. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Our fam relationships are very close. It's a rough and wild ride but it settles down by the time they're young adults. I'll definitely investigate Dobrowski. Thanks. Blessings.

I WISH this information was available to my parents when I was younger. And I'm so glad all of this is available to me as a parent now. It's been a blessing to be able to deal with all the complexities of my own two children!

san54.... your son sounds more like me

He seems to handle these events well. What seems inflated is his sensitivity to various types of sensations. These teen hormones are not helping him cope easily. Finding the right doc is also a bit challenging.

We're a close family though, this year has been a bit challenging and I hope you are right about it settling down ...