Best way to get diagnosed: Research Study

[mctavish23]

Excellent question.

Not unless the parent's themselve's already have their own history of substance abuse.

Keep in mind though, that I live in a very rural setting. So even though the catchment

area is huge, there are only so many CD treatment center's in this area; one of whom

is ours. So, I suppose my response would be a qualified, "No."

Hope that helps.

tc

mctavish23

(Robert)

[PoppnNSailinMan]

I think there is an underlying belief (mistakenly), that you can't possibly be undiagnosed with ADD as an adult because you surely would have been diagnosed as a kid.

It's probably mostly the adults who were hyperactive or caused problems as kids who got diagnosed as kids. Lot's of people, even some psychiatrists, seem to think of ADHD as being mostly about hyperactivity.

I went to see my psychiatrist today, and I could tell that he has little experience treating adults or children with ADHD, especially those with Inattentive Type, and probably doesn’t really understand ADHD very well. He said something to me about how most of the kids and adolescents he treats are taking meds to remove symptoms (i.e. hyperactivity), whereas I was taking meds to get something that’s missing (i.e. attentiveness, focus, etc.). So it’s pretty obvious that most of his ADHD patients are children or adolescents with Combined Type or Hyperactive-Impulsive Type, and he thinks of treatment as mostly being about getting rid of hyperactivity.

[PoppnNSailinMan]

Another thing that tipped me off to the fact that my psychiatrist doesn't have much experience treating adults with ADHD is that he asked me a question right out of the DSM-IV about whether I "often run about or climb excessively in situations in which that is inappropriate." Most adults, even those who Combined Type or Hyperactive-Impulsive Type don't "run about or climb excessively" any more, although they might have done that as kids.

[mctavish23]

Exactly. Developmentally, it becomes "restless" as an adolescent / adult. I also throw in

the extra comment of "restless... with complaints of chronic "boredom."

There's a LOT to be said for understanding the need for Age and Gender Referencing of

the symptoms.

tc

mctavish23

(Robert)

[Fortune]

Originally Posted by Crackpotdad

Seems to be some confusion about what I was saying. I'm not saying it was handed out like candy 25-30 years ago. Exact opposite. It practically didn't exist as a diagnosis 25-30 ago. I am talking about with today's kids, and over the past 10 years.

Which brings me to my point- with so many kids easily diagnosed today, I think there is an underlying belief (mistakenly), that you can't possibly be undiagnosed with ADD as an adult because you surely would have been diagnosed as a kid.

Make more sense?

Well, two things:

I don't think that there is overdiagnosis. There's really no empirical support for such an assumption, just a lot of emotive arguing in favor of such an interpretation.

I have encountered the attitude that you can't possibly have missed being diagnosed as a child, and that's a frustrating attitude to encounter.

[mctavish23]

The bottom line is that the "best way to get diagnosed," is through an

Evidence Based Assessment; which does NOT entail the need for a full sclae

psych. eval.


ur welcome

[Moonshadow]

Well done, crackpotdad for finding that way towards addressing your ADD, and sharing it with the community.

Wonder if I could and if I should try to persuade my UK family doctor to find someone who actually understands adult ADD, and refer me, burnt out depressive at 62, or whether I'm better to soldier on with the comfort that my self diagnosis brings.

[peripatetic]

Originally Posted by Crackpotdad

Seems to be some confusion about what I was saying. I'm not saying it was handed out like candy 25-30 years ago. Exact opposite. It practically didn't exist as a diagnosis 25-30 ago. I am talking about with today's kids, and over the past 10 years.

Which brings me to my point- with so many kids easily diagnosed today, I think there is an underlying belief (mistakenly), that you can't possibly be undiagnosed with ADD as an adult because you surely would have been diagnosed as a kid.

Make more sense?

yes, i think.

i wasn't clear on timeframe you intended to include.

cheers for clarification n hat :-)

but here's the thing that i'm not clear on

and you're BY NO MEANS the first person to (appear to) do it...and i'm sure you won't be the last .

but since you replied, maye you'll consider and offer your take on a further question.

above...far above in the thread...you sAid someting about ....****..i'll look....bear with me

found it:

The problem on this side of the pond (aka the Atlantic), is they hand out childhood ADHD diagnosis like candy. Any kid with a problem in a classroom gets an ADHD diagnosis. Worse, it's the kids that I really think have ADHD who are the ones note getting treated.

not the first part....about location...but the second part...or second and third if we're partitioning by sentences.

about the any kid with a problem gets an adhd diagnosis (which...i doubt is accurate...but sin't really my main point) and (this is where i balk) saying the kids you "really think have adhd are not..."

either i'm really unclear on how this whole point is congealing in your head...or it sounds like you're resentful of not being diagnosed earlier and invalidating those who were...

or maybe some third option. i don't know, so inquiring.

first off...it strikes me as odd that kids with behavioral problems (which, that's what that looks like for a lot of us as kids....big time behavioral problems such that we can't funiton in a classroom)

_side note: that was me, at least for the bulk of my life i kinda characterized it as *I* couldn't function in a traditional classroom (and teachers are cocks)...etc

but i will concede that really looking back and trying to be less..........bitter., itwasn't just about me not funcitoning. my presence meant nobody was functioning because i was a constant disruption/needing "management" etc

make no mistake...they're WERE cocks...becauae ..tat's not the opint. the point is, it wasn't like...peri talks back or is a disruption somtimes...

having behavioral problems in the classroom such that it derails the entire class...that IS something problematic. (teachers can stll SUCK and handle things int he worst of ways, but) there is a reason to investigate what's going on with the kid creating that disturbance.

not all are adhd...but...those who are in that situation and identified as such....your post reads like kids with more "classic" presentations of adhd...are somehow ...however you put it.

well, you contrasted those kids with ones who "really have adhd and aren't getting treated...roughly...i'm not trying to cut/paste again.

it reads to me like those of us who have that "classic" presentation are in contrast to those with "real adhd' or real problems or whatever.

which....so...i read you're a recent diagnosis, ye? and so...you were one of those kids with "real adhd"...who wasn't detected as a child

then you lament people viewing adhd such that without a childhood diagnosis, yo dont' have it. or rather, you can't be an adult with adhd undiagnosed...as if you had it you'd be caught early.

so here's my question (s) from all that:

i get...i know others in the same boat as far as veing overlooked, etc...i get that you want to be recognized as legitimately adhd. that....it sucks when people dont' believe you and so forth.

i can understand wanting to be included.

what i don't get..

(and, as i said, i've seen this phenomenon before) it reads like...you're legitimate...in contrast to others who aren't.

you and others like you have "real adhd"....and were missed

fine

but why make the move to invalidate others' diagnoses?

*Especially* why dismiss others diagnoses as not real adhd who present with behavioral issues in childhood?

i can see you viewing self as "the opposite" insofar as some of us are more...overt....and some...quieter.

but it seems flawed. like....those with more classic presentations rooted out in childhood...

it's like, you want to be seen as "really adhd"...but the move to discredit those who weren't missed... 1. it's not an either/or 2. it makes no sense to me to lobby for a more inclusive understanding...and concurrently exclude others with the diagnosis 3. even if every child diagosed in the past ten years(i think you said ten...if i scroll up one more time i'm going to flip)...isn't really adhd...that has no bearing on whether you are.

and you might be wondering why i'm curious and its' just that i've seen a move to......like...

ok, someone once (and sh'es not around anymore so that's why i'm not naming her) she and i got into it (more in private messages, but on open forum as well) and what came out of that was her saying...i feel like i have something to prove because not diagnosed in childhood...(among other reasons) and because not believed/identified for so long...won't be seen as legit unless i can explain.

so ultimately it was like, an either/or, and she got caught up in validating herself by trying to discredit others--not childhood diagnoses per se...more symptom based...

anyway...that's but one example of this line of reasoning i've seen crop up. and i don't understand it.

particularly since...with adhd....the whole//well, ok, before i joined this forum, i didn't know there was "predominantly inattentive"...at all. (i read ZERO things about adhd until i came here...at psychiatrist's suggestion). so, my point there....i certainly have been faced with...expanding my perception of the disorder to include people who ..aren't like me in many ways. childhood would be another example.

what i don't get is why (and i'm NOT saying your'e saying this in your post...intimating, perhaps...but that's on ME, i admit..you didn't say this) but as there's an element of it in your statements, perhaps you can shed some light on why is there amongst those with different ...

like, routinely there'll be something where someone with a different history/presentation taht's not the..."traditional" one..(PI,adult diagnosis only, did well in school when undiagnosed/untreated, etc) and it' the "enemy" to their being taken seriously...isn't their teachers, parents, doctors....it's those of us with the more ..."classic" symptoms/behaviors/identification timeframe.

it comesout in the forum in different ways. arguably the worst is when we're mischaracterized and dismissed as "hypers" with "advantages"...but...at the end of the day...and i haven't always been as gracious as i hope i am...will be...admittedly...but what's the deal with attacking the "kind" you call your own in order to establish self as valid?