With so much overlap in presentation and subjective experience of what we call ADHD, Autism and Giftedness (all areas of neurodivergence and common labels found in the neurocomplex), I end up spending quite a bit of time with my neurocomplex clients exploring the "what's what?" of these identifiers.
When I finish peoples' sentences, is this the impulsivity of my recently diagnosed ADHD or speed and overexcitibilities of my giftedness? Is my disdain for small talk due to the social reciprocity differences of my recent Autism diagnosis or under stimulation due to the complexity of my giftedness? And so on... I adore exploring these puzzles with people about their wiring as I do feel it can be important exploration for individuals during the integration process after a newer ADHD and/or Autism diagnosis, especially later in life when they are attempting to rewire longstanding narratives of Self. These conversations piqued my curiosity about the Why? behind my years of observed common occurrence of later in life Autism and/or ADHD diagnoses in my clients who were identified as gifted as a child (or in a recent assessment), often after a period identified as burnout. My current working hypothesis is this: Gifted (or Neurocomplex) wiring, when under-resourced and/or in a period of "burnout", takes on a similar presentation and subjective experience of Autism and ADHD. Thus, an individual meets criteria for one or both of these diagnoses later in life after or during a period of extensive burnout that has impacted (temporarily or permanently) their nervous system functioning in areas of executive functioning, verbal capacities, sensory processing, and social abilities. With this hypothesis: ...
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Method Blog.By Lindsey Mackereth, MA, LPCC, LADC Archives
August 2024
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