View Full Version : Diagnosis of Aspergers or "Gifted"
Hi all, my therapist is contacting my doctor to arrange an appointment at a specialist centre in Sheffield to see if they can get me diagnosed as aspergers.
I am also going to have psychological testing to see if I am "gifted", as people who are gifted are apparently quite often misdiagnosed with ADHD or sometimes aspergers and other conditions.
I have not come here to boast about this by the way, this is a completely new direction for me and I am scared by it because I never saw it coming and don't know where it will lead.
If I can get a diagnosis of aspergers it will improve my chances in life beyond measure since it is a disability and I believe my current employer may be making things too difficult for me. This isn't discrimination, more general ignorance and stupidity with a reluctance to accept I am a man and not a number.
If I am diagnosed as "gifted", which my mum seems to believe will be the case, I will not be classed as disabled and will probably find the weight of expectation crushes me even further. So I will actually feel like more of a failure if I am gifted but not aspergers, since if I was gifted, why the hell am I still picking up the pieces of a life wrecked by anxiety?
Has anyone else got experience of this? My therapist has put me in touch with a specialist in working with gifted adults so he can give me an informal heads-up and I'm waiting for his reply.
talkinghelps
16-11-12, 22:14
Hi all, my therapist is contacting my doctor to arrange an appointment at a specialist centre in Sheffield to see if they can get me diagnosed as aspergers.
I am also going to have psychological testing to see if I am "gifted", as people who are gifted are apparently quite often misdiagnosed with ADHD or sometimes aspergers and other conditions.
I have not come here to boast about this by the way, this is a completely new direction for me and I am scared by it because I never saw it coming and don't know where it will lead.
If I can get a diagnosis of aspergers it will improve my chances in life beyond measure since it is a disability and I believe my current employer may be making things too difficult for me. This isn't discrimination, more general ignorance and stupidity with a reluctance to accept I am a man and not a number.
If I am diagnosed as "gifted", which my mum seems to believe will be the case, I will not be classed as disabled and will probably find the weight of expectation crushes me even further. So I will actually feel like more of a failure if I am gifted but not aspergers, since if I was gifted, why the hell am I still picking up the pieces of a life wrecked by anxiety?
Has anyone else got experience of this? My therapist has put me in touch with a specialist in working with gifted adults so he can give me an informal heads-up and I'm waiting for his reply.
Can I ask how you're gifted? I don't mean that to sound rude, just interested what your specialist thing is.
I'm sorry I have no personal experience of this but if you are found to be gifted and not diagnosed with aspergers it doesn't mean you're a failure.
If you're gifted, I guess you can see things from all ends of the spectrum, the good the bad and the ugly? I know the bad and the ugly definitely dominate my mind as would a lot of other humans which could/will cause anxiety if you're a worrier. It's hard to look past into the good because it seems so rare in society.
No one ever knows where anything will lead, life's full of scary unpredictable stuff, it could mean great things for you or it could mean you'll lead your life exactly the same as you are now. Nothing has to change if you don't want it to.
I don't know if this will be any help to you because I've had no experience of this, just wanted to say what I thought. Hope everything works out for you x
talkinghelps
16-11-12, 22:19
Am i misinterpreting what gifted means? I thought it just meant really intelligent, a very high IQ?
Am i misinterpreting what gifted means? I thought it just meant really intelligent, a very high IQ?
I don't know, I just commented on what I thought of at the time. That was my interpretation of it, kind of like an over thinker that can see every outcome? Sorry if that was wrong and/or caused offence. x
Talkinghelps: It's the little things, like my IQ test scores beating senior managers and a university graduate who designs aerodynamic parts for racing cars and aeroplanes. All of my IQ test scores are in the 135-145 range. It is not usual for aspergers to score this high and this is the only area where I deviate from classic aspergers, hence the room for doubt.
I taught myself to read, they had to bring junior school books for me when I was in the first year of infant school, and I could use a computer when I was 3. This was in 1982 when computers were as user-friendly as a pair of glasses that pokes you in the eye.
At the same time I can be a complete pillock and I have failed to make anything of myself. It's like I get "dyslexia" in my brain, which is incredibly frustrating. I meet the weird behaviour of a "gifted" person as well, though that's the part that is often misdiagnosed as ADHD.
"Gifted", regarding intelligence, means intelligence that is higher than the norm and provides distinct advantages/disadvantages. I think the politically-correct term they're trying to replace it with is "especially skilled", for some B.S. reason.
Poker Face: Yes, it's like being able to make leaps of logic and judgement that confound people (and sometimes myself as well) - like being able to construct the rest of a person's sentence just by hearing their first words. Seeing a different picture and being hard to "condition" is also another aspect, although this is very common in aspergers people who spend a lot of time alone and learn their own way of seeing the world. That's why you probably don't get many aspergers fashion victims or iPhone zombies.
Sparkle1984
16-11-12, 22:56
Surely it's possible to have Asperger's and be gifted at the same time? I thought being gifted just meant having a high IQ.
I just did another test, much harder than the usual ones, and got a lower score... but that website also said that the 19th century poet and playwright Lord Byron had an IQ of 180. I'm not sure how they knew that, or why they think he is 30 IQ points smarter than Einstein, and no other website claims to know this kind of information about people who passed away hundreds of years ago.
You think deeply about everything, in some ways that can be a gift if it didn't cause the anxiety. You're obviously a very intelligent man and your analogies of almost everything can make you see things a lot clearer which although sometimes it may cause anxiety, can also help to prevent it. (I assume rational thought is also there too?)
I don't see how either diagnosis can be bad, if you're diagnosed with aspergers, you have support and if you're diagnosed with being gifted, you're going to be in touch with other gifted adults which would help you understand and cope with this new realisation.
It'll all be fine x
Hi there i have two children (18 and 24 with aspergers) and one who is also gifted and at Cambridge if i can be of any help. I also have two children without the condition. x
PokerFace: Everything you say is true. Deep thinking is not something that can just be "switched off", and it has caused a lot of distress. These days I am learning to turn this against my problems and the difference between me now and me before is like night and day.
Essentially a person who can outsmart the chatterbox by "getting behind it", in other words figuring out what is making the chatterbox tick (your core negative beliefs), no longer has to put up with its deluge of crap all day. You effectively dismantle it a piece at a time. This does not, and will never, happen through avoidance - so people who have been on medication for years without improvement have probably not figured out what's causing them to be ill.
Even when it comes back during stressful or tough times, the same process can be used to beat it again. There's no way I would have come this far without the ability for deep thought and it's something I advise others to try. If your chatterbox tells you to fear something you need to ask yourself WHY you would fear it, what's the worst that can happen? Once you start getting answers, you are breaking into the programming of your anxiety and can begin making tweaks.
Thank you for the reassurance, I guess I need that more than anything now.
Rockydog: Thanks, I'll be in touch but am on aspie overload for another night so it will be tomorrow :)
No problem i will try and remember to sign in and look :)
You're so right in all you say, the way you just said has helped me learn to cope with my own anxiety and that last post offered some great advice with the "deep thinking". I'm a deep thinker too, there's no way I could be considered gifted but I do relate to what you're saying.
No need to thank me :) I'm glad I could offer you reassurance, let us know how you get on? Take care and like I said, I really hope this works out for you x
PP, I have always been really interested in your progress. I have been classed as "eccentric", as in I cannot and will not conform to other "normal" people, I dress differently, I don't seem to think about things other people think about and they don't seem to think of the things I think about. I am also a musician (I don't want to say talented) and I can pick up something and just play it, and I learn extremely fast by ear and I have perfect pitch to a degree of a semitone. I hated saying that but...yeah you see my point. I have never tested my IQ.
I have wondered if I would be classed on the autistic spectrum, but I am not going to find out as I am ticking along, but the stuff you say always "clicks" with me. Especially your last post. I am really thankful to you for letting us know the details of your progress.
However, I do worry that western civilization, being as politicized and industrialized as it is, tries to "class" everyone and everything to create order and sort everything into it's place. I believe that everyone, to some extent, has an undiagnosed mental disorder and some people rely on this label too much. I am most interested to see if they offer you help that will be benificial and will change your life, or help that will seperate you off socially and cause you to be unneccessarily seen as "disabled".
It's amazing though that you are using your intelligence to turn the gifts that caused your anxiety to the tools you are using to banish it. You have an army, and it once fighting for the wrong side, but now you're winning it over!
Your posts are inspiring and enlightening. Keep us updated.
Much love, Pan.
sophieunderscore
17-11-12, 18:17
My partner has Asperger's (no official diagnosis but almost 100% sure he has it), I would be interested to know about your experience of getting a diagnosis as an adult as we've found it incredibly difficult, it seems that most doctors do not want to diagnose it or even refer us further and just talk about "everybody being on the spectrum". This would be fine if he was able to function, however, he is not able to work due to extreme anxiety and depression which accompany parts of the asperger's (i.e. inability to cope in social situations). I am currently studying towards a PhD and at a conference I heard someone speak about how counselling needs to be adapted for patients with Asperger's and feel that with a diagnosis he could get access to more specialised help as we are completely alone at the moment (although we have very supportive families) in getting anywhere. Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble and a bit pointless :blush:
Hi everyone, thank you for your replies, it is very moving to have such support. Aspies (if that is what I am) do not generally cope well with the unknown.
Sophie: Some doctors are utterly useless. In fact they're worse than useless, they're counter-productive. Why/how is that worse? Well a doctor who is providing the wrong advice or treatment, or refuses to acknowledge their patient's problem, will make the patient's life far more difficult.
Counselling will not be the way forward for someone on the aspergers scale, he needs behavioural therapy (CBT) as he needs to learn how to manage himself. Anxiety and depression are caused by years of negative experiences which result from the aspergers. A person who can master themselves has no further need for anxiety and depression, and this is how everyone (not just aspies) can permanently cure themselves of anxiety and depression.
I'll report back on everything that happens during the diagnostic process. Please feel free to ask me for any assistance at all in going for your PhD. "You have my sword... and my bow... and my axe!" :yesyes:
Poker Face: I was convinced from the start that "deep thinking" would provide the answers. It's something that people can't do alone though, unless they are very experienced and/or possess a very enlightened viewpoint. Often the biggest discoveries come by accident, maybe you randomly connected a few dots and found a pattern, or someone mentioned something to you by chance and it turned out to be game-changing. I was regularly lost in the woods because I only saw the trees; my therapist, advice on here, random conversations and those odd little brainwaves that sometimes come at the end of a rage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUTifpEcMEQ).
Pancho, thank you very much for the encouragement, it is greatly appreciated. It might be that you are on the aspergers scale; my therapist believes that aspergers and social anxiety are on a scale of their own as opposed to aspergers simply being a degree of autism. I'll find out what she means by this as I don't want to mis-quote her.
Your ability to think for yourself probably comes from social isolation. If you spent a lot of time on your own, you have probably learned to judge a person or situation on their merits as opposed to blindly copying the way everyone else behaves. You might also have more brainpower than the herd and that could be why they struggle to make the mental leap needed to understand some of the things you say and do.
In your case, your boosted intelligence is geared towards music. Maybe this makes you better with emotions and moods than other people would be, since music is tied up with feeling. I've heard that music and mathematics are intimately bound up so are you good with numbers too?
Pancho, thank you very much for the encouragement, it is greatly appreciated. It might be that you are on the aspergers scale; my therapist believes that aspergers and social anxiety are on a scale of their own as opposed to aspergers simply being a degree of autism. I'll find out what she means by this as I don't want to mis-quote her.
Your ability to think for yourself probably comes from social isolation. If you spent a lot of time on your own, you have probably learned to judge a person or situation on their merits as opposed to blindly copying the way everyone else behaves. You might also have more brainpower than the herd and that could be why they struggle to make the mental leap needed to understand some of the things you say and do.
In your case, your boosted intelligence is geared towards music. Maybe this makes you better with emotions and moods than other people would be, since music is tied up with feeling. I've heard that music and mathematics are intimately bound up so are you good with numbers too?
Thank you for replying to my thoughts, that all makes a lot of sense, as I didn't grow up near my friends so kept my own company. I'm a bit rubbish with numbers though! But I am awkward in social situations. It all makes so much sense! I will keep a close eye on your progress :hugs:
sophieunderscore
17-11-12, 22:54
Thanks for your reply - my PhD is actually on Facial Disfigurement, not Asperger's, I was just at a general psychology conference run by my department.
I agree with the advice about CBT - it's so difficult as I am also suffering from severe depression (mostly related to my rock bottom self esteem and lonliness) so we both make each other worse sometimes - it's also very difficult to get access to help - we are currently in Bristol but will be moving back home to South Wales after just 6 months early next year as when we moved in together they stopped his benefits (that's a whole other story) Sorry I feel like I've just used your post as an outpouring of everything that is going wrong right now!
I think one of the issues is that Aspeger's is a relatively new "condition" (late 1980s I think) so there are probably lots of people who were born before then or around the same time as diagnoses were being developed who weren't diagnosed and since the condition was "discovered" in children there is less support for adults, does this make sense? I also think there's a lot of anxiety around terms such as Asperger's/ADHD and a general sense in the population that they are made up to explain certain types of naughty/odd behaviour which is perhaps why doctors try and brush it off - also the "links" (which are completely unfounded) between vaccines and these conditions make it something that is avoided.
Hi Pancho, well life is NOT a balance, some people will be fortunate enough to have skills which make up for weaknesses, others are so superbly talented they get by using that talent alone. The point is, we can all make something of ourselves, because we all share (or can develop) the guts and determination necessary to see us through.
We can all improve, we can all be more than we are, but a person who identifies their strengths and maximises those may be more successful than someone who works at improving all of their weaknesses. Basically, life is too short to "level up" all our abilities, this isn't a game, we need to make choices and stand by them. So if you possess a musical gift, you'll save a lot of time and heartache by basing your life around this. What's the point in having a gift if you're going to play with something else? :)
Sophie, if I wasn't so burned out I would try to help you with your depression. All I can say is, imagine there is a sliding scale with HOPE at one end and DESPAIR at the other. Depression drags the needle into the DESPAIR section, but it doesn't remove the HOPE, it just makes it harder to experience it. Depression changes your perception, it does not replace the reality.
As for the burnout, in this respect I'm the classic aspie: I've been much more social in the last few weeks and this coincides with my increased irritability and the last couple of depressive blips. I have been hostile, narky, easily annoyed, irritable and generally bad-tempered lately.
In my research, I've come across something called twice-gifted. This means you get one major plus and one major minus. If I'm twice-gifted, my creative intelligence would be my greatest advantage, and my aspergers would be the disadvantage.
This would mean my asperger's is a symptom of something much larger... I don't know how much bigger this is going to get, I am totally out of my depth and I feel like I'm coming face to face with the forces of creation here. Where the hell will this strange, outlandish journey go next?
Some strange and good news!
I've been suffering from stress, aggravation and anger again. The littlest things were doing my head in. The other night I could barely sleep because I was raging obsessively in my mind about something my brother did which was actually a minor annoyance. My sleep was fitful and uncomfortable.
Then after I'd woken up twice, I dreamed I was talking about it with my sister. I was shouting and snapping with stress, she was cool-headed and asking me why it mattered, why was I getting so upset. When I woke up I felt groggy and slightly spaced out, but it was like the weight of the world had lifted from me. I'm nowhere near as narky now, I don't obsessively stress about pointless things, and my performance at work has improved so much they will probably investigate me on suspicion of cheating.
My therapist just told me I could walk into a science job and do the work of a top scientist with a little bit of training! She's put me in touch with an author who has aspergers and has two gifted children. He's written books on these subjects. Unfortunately he suffers from the social anxiety side way more than I do and has not replied yet - my therapist said to give him time.
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