Reply To: Diagnosed last week

[jlacroix]

I’ve been meaning to reply to this for a while but I had an issue with my web browser that prevented me from accessing this forum.

Since I originally wrote this topic, I asked another therapist for a confirmation of ADHD. My current one at the time said that she felt that diagnosing was meaningless, that it’s only good for insurance purposes. But a diagnosis is what I wanted. She confirmed that based on talking to me for so long she was convinced I had ADHD, but that wasn’t enough, I wanted more detail so I went to another therapist.

My new therapist had me and two other people fill out a questionnaire about myself. It’s definitely confirmed now, no question about it. Next week we are going to go over my stats and percentiles in more detail, and that’s exactly what I wanted – 100% confirmation.

I noticed that I’m forgetful a lot, I probably always been. My partner sometimes gets irritated with my forgetfulness, but I no longer feel like it’s my fault. With the diagnosis, and a much better understanding of ADHD, I find that I’m not so hard on myself. I try my best, that’s all I can do, and all that should be expected.

I learned a hard lesson though, something that I feel is important everyone learn from. When you suspect you may have a disorder, it’s commonly agreed that you should seek a therapist and get evaluated. However, I learned that it’s not that simple. I’ve been going to therapy for years! No one could help me figure me out until recently. And what I learned is simply seeing a therapist isn’t enough, check their specialties! My current therapist is an ADHD expert, so he’s able to tell someone if they do or do not have ADHD. My previous one didn’t have that specialty, so the lesson is, seek a therapist that specializes in what you want help with. It makes a world of difference, and knowing that ahead of time could’ve saved me years of trying.

Now that I have the diagnosis, I feel so amazing that I finally feel like I know much more about who I am, the way my brain works, and it’s liberating.

I love this site!

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