What's the point of an ADHD diagnosis?

[HelpAGirlOut1234]

Just as the title says... what is actually the point if you have no intention of taking medication, or medicating your child.

Side note perhaps but if you're wondering what ADHD can be like, this is pretty accurately "me on a good day with medication":

When I was being diagnosed, the stuff that was looked at from my childhood wasn't academic failure, but was more about losing things, forgetting things, daydreaming, emotional dystegulation, , sleep, lateness, messiness, the short story series and comic books I wrote during boring lessons, friendship issues, special interests, my perception of time, fidgets and stimming, planning and organisation, impulsiveness (which isn't always seen by teachers and parents as a negative thing - in me and many girls, this shows up as answering questions in class and volunteering at the drop of a hat, to the point of exhaustion) and what strategies I had devised to cope with my 'personality flaws".

To understand what is wrong and find out how to fix it. To make sense of yourself and your life. To find techniques that work for you to manage your life (the same things that work for neurotypical, in terms of motivation, planning, time keeping etc do not work for those with ADHD). To get a correct diagnosis - many people get misdiagnosed with depression, anxiety, bipolar etc. To get reasonable adjustments to allow you to stay in work /education. because ADHD has a serious affect on a persons physical, mental, emotional and financial health and has a significant effect on life expectancy. Because there are other interventions - including work coaching and ADHF specific therapies that can be life changing for those with ADHD.

Oh god yes. My brain does get tired of itself sometimes.

This describes it perfectly for me too.

Very true. Some people’s hyperfocus can be their chosen university subject (lucky sods!! I wish mine had been!)

@SquirrelSoShiny my experience has been very similar to this: my life imploded quite early (at 28), as despite the surface of being highly intelligent and successful, the toll it took upon my physical and mental health was pretty catastrophic at the time.
My sister also has combined ADHD and her experience was poor academic results and what seemed like limited prospects as a result of this, but she's been the one to achieve career success and a stable family unit.

Your timeline needs rearranging.

No.



If it hasn’t damaged her education ( and getting into a prestigious university isn’t exactly saying it has) I doubt she’ll get a diagnosis. You have to prove it impairs functioning in education.

@Postachio2 no.

I have a* a levels, went to a good university and got a 1st class degree, worked as a teacher and now own a successful business, as well as being a published writer.

I believe my ADHD helped me - it gave me an intense hyper focus and RSD meant I couldn't bear to fail at anything which pushed me harder to succeed.

We absolutely need to stop looking at every aspect of adhd being negative. While there are so many aspects of MY adhd that I absolutely hate, there are many that I love and that I think have shaped me into the successful, happy person that I am.

There’s a lot of internalised ableism here.

You’re suggesting that ALL the responsibility is on the disabled person to behave as though they weren’t disabled, in order to make others happy / make their lives easier.

Don’t family and partners also have a responsibility to educate themselves and communicate and live in a way that means their loved ones don’t have to exhaust themselves trying to be something they’re not?

Don’t neurotypical expectations need to be questioned?

@Postachio2
this just isn’t true. I’m one of those Oxbridge entrants who now has an ADHD diagnosis. My dc who have the diagnosis are successful academically. That’s never been suggested as a reason not to diagnose any of us.

Postachio2
work is NOTHING like a school ime

Not stopping you from anything but you don't have to wait to get a diagnosis to try out adhd strategies (or any strategy) to see if it helps you. There's hardly anything (If at all) they'd tell you if diagnosed that you also can't get on your own.

So while waiting, the strategies could still work and that in itself can tell you a lot too about what you may be dealing with even before assessment/diagnosis.

It can be simply because an explanation for 'difference' can make coping easier. Suddenly there is an explanation for why an extremely bright, mature, sporty, 'successful' child can't remember 5+5=10 from one moment to the next, can't get their coat on, loses track of time in a national-level race and comes in last, starts self harming, has suicidal ideation etc. Being diagnosed doesn't stop these things unfortunately, but it gives you, as the parent or the child, some kind of platform from which to start to deal with the issues.

Thank you for posting this.

I would also just add that there's such a difference often between how girls and boys present with ADHD and often schools spot the boys but not the girls.

They don't have to provide it but if you had a diagnosis, I believe they have to by law.

But you don't have to go for assessment if your life is already running smoothly enough for you. Even if you go, you may or may not be diagnosed after further assessment on the NHS. So, going doesn't mean automatically getting diagnosed.

You have kept misrepresentating what I've said and using a source that isn't to do with what I was saying. You don't seem able to comprehend that so this is my final engagement with you.

I haven’t misinterpreted what you said. You said you don’t need an adhd diagnosis for extra time. You do unless you’ve had formal assessments for processing difficulties. Concerns re adhd is not grounds for those assessments.

The source is literally the formal guidance that determines whether you’re eligible cut extra time. It’s literally the source.

Again, if you want to provide an alternative source go for it. But it’s misleading to suggest that a person with adhd will be entitled to extra time without a diagnosis.

The difficulty isn’t always finding the correct strategies and coping mechanisms. For me, it’s having the consistency to keep using them. I’m very all or nothing. I can do everything, until I suddenly can’t. Once I miss something once, I cannot start it up again. No amount of concern for the impact on my family helps. Then eventually I do, get on top of it all, keep it up for ages, miss a day and the cycle starts again.

Also I am a psychotherapist for NHS Talking Therapies. I would estimate that 90-95% of my clients have undiagnosed ADHD. This alone contributes to them developing low mood and anxiety related disorders. Yet I have rarely any diagnosed clients…… I surmise that this is because once diagnosed, medication helps as does the recognition that you’re not a failure - thus reducing anxiety and low mood.

I have ADHD and I'm not medicated for it. I found out in my 30s and I've already developed coping mechanisms. I'm responsible for myself and struggle to remember to take medication as I don't form habits. So it wouldn't help me. I use caffeine which regulates me. I disagree that medication is the only reason for a diagnosis. I don't claim any benefit for it. I don't usually tell people. It helps me to know there are reasons why I am who I am. I'm not weird or lazy. Diagnosis has helped with my mental wellbeing and self acceptance.

Yep, another one where high ability enabled me to compensate.

Like you, I have achieved a lot with adhd, but at great personal cost.

And I have achieved what I have achieved without ever feeling that I was truly fulfilling my potential. I could have done so much more....

I’ve read and listened to a lot of advice on strategies to help me refrain from impulsive behaviour, get motivated to do mundane tasks, mitigate the impact on my relationships, to try and get and I’ve added these to the strategies I related do had already developed. I look fairly high functioning but to be honest I feel like I am dragging myself kicking and screaming every day to get my brain to do the things others do easily. It’s mentally exhausting. The exhaustion goes bone deep. I can’t even begin to explain how relentless it is. But if I stop everything slides into chaos which is really awful too. I would
trade quite a lot to have a different brain.

@EdithArtois have you looked at meds? It sounds like you might benefit?