When I first saw this headline I thought oh no, have we created another "syndrome"? But after reading it I realize this is probably what my wife has.
in the last 17 years I've noticed all of these traits over and over. She's extremely nice, friendly and approachable to the point where she's not only vulnerable but people have said it's "annoying". She is constantly reaching out, talking and being extremely friendly with people everywhere despite having HUGE issues with anxiety.
She has some learning disabilities and issues and works in healthcare where she is in a unique position because of her personality. She's unable to learn or retain certain things beyond a base knowledge developed over the last 10 years or so. She struggles with charts and paperwork and hasn't been able to move up beyond a certain level. She rarely makes mistakes but also doesn't take any risks with patients and doesn't do a lot of critical care.
But the reason she hasn't been fired is quite simply because there would probably be a revolt where she works. She is absolutely LOVED by the residents of the facility, her coworkers and even management. She's a "ray of light" that comes in and cheers everyone up no matter what and I honestly think if it came down to it they'd pay her just to come in talk to people if they had to.
It's one of the things I fell in love with so long ago that makes the downsides (frequent anxiety, OCD, over engagement etc) so much much worth it. It's very hard to be in a bad mood around her.
I'm glad to have found this article and it even inspired me to create an account just to post about this. It was eerie reading this article describing my wife... even the "buzzing bee" thing. Absolutely intolerable to her. Clicks, noises, things like that create great anxiety. But get her into a crowd of people and she'll be talking, relating and stealing the show.
I'm definitely going to do some more research into this.
Williams syndrome is a CHROMOSOMAL disorder which has PROFOUND effects, not just on personality but on physical appearance. It isn't all that common.
Please don't diagnose your wife with chromosomal disorders based on her being friendly and anxious and bad at charts. Perhaps she has a learning disability, like tons of other people.
It is a spectrum disorder where individuals with small deletions can be regarded as normal. Fibetera's wife may well have a mild version - the only way to know is to do a DNA test.
I would never diagnose her with anything, I am a software developer not a doctor. It just points me in the way of some research for possible things we could talk to a doctor about.
A close friend of mine has Turner's syndrome, also a chromosomal disorder with potentially severe physical effects (such as "neck webbing").
Fortunately for her, she doesn't exhibit the gross physical abnormalities. So while I do endorse the basic sentiment of your comment, you're not on 100% solid ground.
Is she a music fan? Unusually good at pitch, rhythm, instruments, or memory for music and lyrics?
Williams Syndrome is associated with unusual aptitude for music (or perhaps just unusual compared to the other more serious learning difficulties). There are even music-focused summer camps specifically for kids and adults with Williams Syndrome.
These aren't necessarily in conflict. Imagine a system,
x = A + B
y = A - B
If, typically, we see large ranges of A and small ranges of B, we'd say x and y tend to move together. But that doesn't preclude someone with a highly unusual B.
> When I first saw this headline I thought oh no, have we created another "syndrome"? But after reading it I realize this is probably what my wife has.
The first sentence seems to convey an annoyance with people's propensity to hastily self-diagnose/make amateur diagnosis. And then you do the same thing in the next sentence...
in the last 17 years I've noticed all of these traits over and over. She's extremely nice, friendly and approachable to the point where she's not only vulnerable but people have said it's "annoying". She is constantly reaching out, talking and being extremely friendly with people everywhere despite having HUGE issues with anxiety.
She has some learning disabilities and issues and works in healthcare where she is in a unique position because of her personality. She's unable to learn or retain certain things beyond a base knowledge developed over the last 10 years or so. She struggles with charts and paperwork and hasn't been able to move up beyond a certain level. She rarely makes mistakes but also doesn't take any risks with patients and doesn't do a lot of critical care.
But the reason she hasn't been fired is quite simply because there would probably be a revolt where she works. She is absolutely LOVED by the residents of the facility, her coworkers and even management. She's a "ray of light" that comes in and cheers everyone up no matter what and I honestly think if it came down to it they'd pay her just to come in talk to people if they had to.
It's one of the things I fell in love with so long ago that makes the downsides (frequent anxiety, OCD, over engagement etc) so much much worth it. It's very hard to be in a bad mood around her.
I'm glad to have found this article and it even inspired me to create an account just to post about this. It was eerie reading this article describing my wife... even the "buzzing bee" thing. Absolutely intolerable to her. Clicks, noises, things like that create great anxiety. But get her into a crowd of people and she'll be talking, relating and stealing the show.
I'm definitely going to do some more research into this.