Official Diagnosis of ADD this week! Questions --long post.

[stanzen]

I paid for a two hour psychological assessment with a therapist who was recommended as an ADD and learning specialist here in the SF Bay Area. The therapist ran through all the questionnaires my wife and I had filled out, while typing it all into a computer and asking me additional questions. He told that I had ADD and a mood disorder.

The dude seemed OK, but was kinda of bull****ty. Plunked my info into a program he was writing with a shrink and out came suggestions for drugs; stimulants topped the list, followed by Wellbutrin and Stratera.

After telling me that Kaiser was crappy (I'm a Kaiser HMO member) and Ritalin was not very good (I tried Ritalin recently), he signed me up for a separate visit to see his shrink. I postponed that for a couple of weeks; his office manager told me the pdoc visit would be a two-hour $600 visit! --I should call my old dope dealer back in Brooklyn and tell him he's in the wrong business--Oh, I forgot, he's in jail, probably knows already.

Yesterday, I saw my pdoc at Kaiser P. (free) and told him about the assessment. Also, told him I was doing well on an initial trial of Ritalin he had given me over a month ago. He said great! and prescribed several months worth of R. and set me up for an appointment in early March. He would come up with a drug of longer duration after I figured out a good dose on R. I was quite happy about this.

Here are my questions:


Do I need to see this additional shrink? It seems as if the therapist wanted to get me into his practice (negative, distrustful thinking), or perhaps he was just trying to be helpful (cheerful, trusting thinking).

Might I call this therapist back and chat about why a shrink visit is necessary and request clarification?

Should I get something from him in writing? What do I request as an outcome of the evaluation?

So, what is a mood disorder?

The therapist talked around this question because I came out with mild depression on the Beck's Inventory (12??? ). I also have a nasty temper and am somewhat antisocial, negative, and run to emotional extremes. No surprises there! He didn't say I was clinically depressed (which I'm not), or anything I could recognise. I think my moods are affected by the ADD stuff.

He said I have ADD. So, now I have confirmation! At least I know, finally.


Cheers,