This week Tallulah Willis, daughter of well-known actors, announced that she was diagnosed at the age of 30 and shared the relief that this late diagnosis brought with it. In my eyes, her article has enormous importance for many adults and children who are introverted, or strange or those who stick to the routine and the familiar.
These are often very functional, smart and charming people. Why diagnose them? Why fix what isn’t broken? It is important to understand that at a young age these children have no integration problems at all and therefore it is very difficult to locate them and start treatment in time. At an older age, when the problems worsen and become fixed – the treatment is less effective.
So, this brave young woman stood up and gave them a voice and explained what mental health professionals know and many parents find out too late.
Some of the introverted or rigid children come to treatment at the age of 14 or 15, when social demands increase. They already suffer more and the results are nor as good. After the diagnosis and treatment at any age, the same people share the terrible feelings they «successfully» hid – anxiety, shame, a feeling that they are strange, a constant vague feeling that they and the environment do not understand each other. Constant tension. Tallulah also describes these feelings in a typical way and states that she went through years of depression, low self-confidence, eating disorders, difficulty interpreting the environment which leads to detachment and loneliness.
Paradoxically, the high functioning, the obedience to the rules, the high intelligence, the attachment to the routine and above all – the inability to describe their inner world – actually work against them and lead to their diagnosis only in adult age. A lack in social ability is first of all a difficulty in explaining the difficulty, making it visible to those around.
When it comes to social disability yet high-functioning children, it is very important to diagnose and treat it at as young an age as possible. Almost no high-functioning child has all the signs. Therefore, if your child has more than three symptoms listed here, seek advice. It is important to understand that at a young age these children have no integration problems at all and are often charming children – therefore it is very difficult to locate them and start treatment in time. At an older age, when the problems worsen and become fixed – the treatment is less effective.
1. Attachment to routine, difficulty in transitions, fixed habits.
2. Reluctance or ignoring unfamiliar people.
3. Beginning of speech at a late age, close to two years.
4. Limited interests, playing the same game all the time, watching the same TV series.
5. Emotional fluctuations, angry outbursts, unusual feelings and difficulty expressing emotions. Abnormal reactions to the emotions of others.
6. Clumsy.
7. Prominent preference for carbohydrates.
8. Attachments to familiar characters that are not age appropriate. childishness.
9. Difficulty making or maintaining eye contact.
10. Psychosomatic pains.
11. Preference not to leave the house.
12. Sensory sensitivity – noise, crowding, touch, smells.
Please contact me for further information.
