Phew! You must be relieved!! My appointment was a bit more murky, diagnostically speaking. At the end of it I was given three options – be referred to a doctor who would most likely diagnose and treat ADHD, be referred to a doctor who would treat my anxiety (with a prescription and CBT), or continue to see my current doctor and have some psychoanalysis sessions to dig at underlying issues that may be the root cause of some of my current issues. He was a typical shrink – he put his three “proposals” to me and let me decide. He didn’t give a diagnosis as such, just choices, though he did say that he didn’t believe that ADHD was likely, though he knew other doctors who would believe otherwise, and it was up to me if I wanted to be referred on.
I really did not know what to do. I know I have anxiety issues, but I also believe that there is more to my issues that just anxiety. I think I will try the analysis first, as I am curious about it, as well as wanting to avoid medications where possible, but I also think I will ask to be referred on at some stage, just to get further assessment on the ADHD front.
I feel that the cognitive assessment he did wasn’t particularly thorough when compared to my son’s because there was not the comparison between areas of functioning (working memory etc). My son’s ADHD showed up because of the discrepancy between tests that required working memory and processing, and those that did not. I was given serial 7s (count backward by 7s from 100), which I struggled with, but which I supposedly did okay with (even though I am well practiced with compensatory mechanisms like using fingers to keep track of the number I am at), and a couple of other short questions. I personally would have liked a more thorough test, though I guess he didn’t do one because he believed that anyone with ADHD would struggle with serial 7s much more than I did.
However, he showed a huge amount of insight into issues I had when I was a teen, and based on that, I am willing to see how things pan out. I have waited 40 years, and I can wait a bit longer, as long as I am doing SOMETHING towards sorting things out. If all he does is allow me to sleep better and not stress so much about stupid things, then I will be happy about the wait.
But I still HATE waiting for results…. 