Should I get diagnosed? - eviltoast

I strongly suspect that I have ADHD, but I can’t see the benifit of getting diagnosed.

I know that if I get diagnosed and offically have ADHD I can get some medicine but I don’t think I want that in any case.

Can you share your experience and what benifit you got from getting offically diagnosed?

  • The Picard Maneuver@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Diagnoses are a means to an end. If you aren’t interested in getting your insurance to pay for medication or something, it doesn’t really serve a purpose.

    You can still work with a therapist to develop behavioral coping skills to counteract some of the potential symptoms you’ve noticed, diagnosis or not. (Your therapist will probably even give a working/preliminary diagnosis in your chart with them - it’s really not a big deal).

    Some people find personal relief in getting the “label”, but even testing for ADHD is basically just confirming that the symptoms you self-report meet diagnostic criteria. It’s not concrete like a blood test, so most people who go in reporting symptoms come out with a diagnosis. If that appeals to you, go for it.

    • hissing meerkat@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      I really didn’t believe that a bunch of memes on lemmy meant that I had ADHD so instead of making an appointment for it specifically I described the executive difficulties I had when making an appointment, and the doctor brought up anxiety and ADHD and depression all as things that could cause that, and that frequently go together, which they gave screening questionaires for and wanted to treat anxiety first. Then after a few weeks I had a follow-up appointment for ADHD, which was just questions about symptoms and when they first appeared.

      Yeah that amounts to the same thing-report the symptoms, get diagnosis, but it felt more honest to me. I guess I really wanted to hear somebody else say it.