Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Gifted and Anxiety Poll and your opinions

Hello all. This is my very first post although not an easy one to write. My 6 1/2 year old has been tested and evaluated by a neuropsychologist and a behavioral analyst. He has been diagnosed with severe anxiety and with developing OCD and separation anxiety (from me, the mom). Oh, yes, he has been tested with a high IQ - Very superior intelligence.

I would like to know if you have a child who is G&T with severe anxiety and/or OCD. I am wondering if my child is so bright he is scared to death.

It seems fairly common to me for GT kids to have anxiety. A psychologist told us DYS DS8 had severe anxiety when he was 6. We've worked hard to help DS stay in control, but the anxiety is still there and can be overwhelming to the whole family when it's full-force. All-in-all, DS has MUCH less frequent full-blown anxiety attacks these days. He can still be a nervous sort of kid in many ways, and that can be hard to take sometimes for those around him. I feel lucky that he will talk with me about his feelings, and we work together to try to help him to handle things that bother him.

HTH. Welcome to this discussion board! You're welcome to PM me if you have specific questions.

Hi Mama. This past summer was unbelievably stressful for all of us. DS felt completely chaotic with the lack of structure. I had him in 4 camps plus we had a week long vacation at the beach but he needed so much more than I could continually offer. Unfortunately, he resorted to non-compliance, controlling and aggressive behavior when he couldn't get his way. You see, he also tested at the emotional age of a 3 year old! I am so grateful school is back in session (he attends a Montessori school), and his behavior has improved. We will be starting in home as well as individual therapy soon. He tries to control everything from the menu to his younger brother, not the least to mention us!

Yes, to severe anxiety. It has improved radically over time though through: therapy, careful attention to diet and supplements and lifestyle changes. While intelligence may have been connected with the child being anxious especially ages 3-7, it has also been a very powerful weapon in learning to cope with anxiety. If you get a kid good help early it can make all the difference.

Hi,
Our child is past 7 and still is anxious, though perhaps not as serious. But we have ongoing managed it in different ways.

Role playing. We did try doing the what if game and taking it into a comedy routine. So we take the anxiety and imagine something even worse that could happen. But we've been doing this for a long time ever since 3-ish we've been doing something to manage fear of this or that. We also typically talk out our own fears so child can hear how we hope to handle it, etc.

We take a lot of time planning, verbalizing the plan, offering options to plans so that, if this doesn't work, we might try this...

There is still separation anxiety.

I'm thinking it is because our children can imagine greatly and feel things deeply.

Also we spend time helping child remember conquering past fears/anxiety. Remember that time you felt this/that, and then what happened once you got there? You had fun? No way!

I'm wondering if it is mostly helping them understand their feelings won't overwhelm them, and to show them how to manage their own brain activity.

Tks for the tips, Jesse.

PTP, how have you guys coped with anxiety? What sort of therapy can help? Any specifics here will be appreciated.

What we found most effective has been cognitive behavioral therapy with a psychologist. The goal of cognitive behavioral therapy is to learn to recognize negative thought patterns and to learn to change them. Recognizing feelings of anxiety in the body and learning to use breathing and relaxation strategies before reaching a crisis point is also really helpful.

I certainly agree with the observation that when kids are gifted and have access to advanced ideas but have age typical emotional maturity that asynchrony can be problematic. But the good news is that intelligence may also make it easier for them to learn to recognize how they are thinking and to learn strategies for dealing with it too.

I highly recommend these two books.
For parents: http://www.amazon.com/Freeing-Your-Child-Anxiety-Practical/dp/0767914929

For kids: http://www.amazon.com/What-When-You-Worry-Much/dp/1591473144/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Tks much, PTP. Moving over to amazon.com next .

So far, and tks to this forum, I'm catching on that his tantrums have to do with perfectionism. But it is the more subtle actions that I have missed. DS doesn't do many things (ride a bike, play football) because he says he doesn't like it. He has severe visual issues that we continue to address, but some willingness to try wld be helpful. Basically, he's not confident, he fast forwards that he will fail, so he digs his heels in. I really need to find a way to talk him round or he'llbe trapped in that same negative cycle.

Blob - has he been in occupational therapy?

PTP, yes. He's been in OT for 2 years now with a little break in between because of school. It's helped him significantly in terms of sensory issues.