Does anyone get an ADHD assessment and not get diagnosed

[LemonViolet]

Has anyone been though an ADHD assessment thinking that they have ADHD and been told they no they don’t?

[Shirtyllama]

Hi OP
Yep! Was told by NHS psychiatrist that I definitely didn't have it (they also told me they basically didn't really believe in ADHD in adult women who has got through university/had a job/were in a relationship ). Eventually I got money together for a private assessment and the diagnosis was yes definitely ADHD, and he couldn't imagine how the original NHS psych had missed this.
I think the NHS psychiatrist, who worked in a general setting, knew very little about ADHD and thought I was a time waster who had strong-armed them into an assessment.

The private psychiatrist (who had lots of experience with ASD and ADHD, both in the NHS and privately) was able to give me a longer assessment - 2 hours - and actually listened and asked relevant questions.

The first assessment was all about "were you physically disruptive at school", even though I already knew that this isn't necessarily how girls present.

So...I didn't buy myself the diagnosis I wanted, but I did have to buy a suitable assessment, unfortunately. There are obviously lots of NHS assessments that are more thorough than the one I had, but I was unlucky with local provision.

[LemonViolet]

@TooManyPJs

There are people in my other ADHD groups who were told they did not have ADHD following assessment. Both private and NHS.

@TooManyPJs sorry coming back to this as I lost the thread.

But these people still believe they have ADHD (participating in ADHD groups) after a negative private assessment?

[TooManyPJs]

There are people in my other ADHD groups who were told they did not have ADHD following assessment. Both private and NHS.

[mymindisamuckingfuddle]

@Nefelibata86

Sorry if this is taking over the original post. Happy to start a new thread if so. I understand there is a crossover of diagnoses. If paying for a private adhd assessment would their remit be to say yes or no to the adhd alone or can they generally say if not adhd then it’s autism or ocd for instance? Or would that require a whole new assessment

I had my assessment privately, recently, and I was assessed for (and was diagnosed with) both because that's what I asked for. You'd need to say beforehand because they get you to fill out separate forms for ASD and ADHD.

It's unlikely they'd diagnose ASD off the back of an ADHD assessment without 'looking' for and into the ASD too, if that makes sense.

It varies by area but where I am on the NHS adult services for ADHD and ASD are separate.

[Nefelibata86]

Thanks @HMG107 , this is all encouraging me to make the steps

[HMG107]

@Nefelibata86 it depends where your assessment takes place, some providers can access for both.

My initial assessor was unsure whether I had ADHD but thankfully she knew her knowledge was poor. She called in a colleague who was the companies expert and after a quick look at me and a few questions I received my diagnosis

[whatajuckingfoke]

@user1493494961

I think you probably get what you pay for.

Rubbish! The people who diagnosed privately are qualified in the same way that NHS medics. You can't buy a diagnosis, for ADHD or ASD.

[Nefelibata86]

Great thank you

[ScreamIntoTheWind]

@ShiftingSands21

My guess would be they could possibly diagnose you with OCD there and then but if they suspected autism they would need to suggest you get another assessment as that is a more complex process.

That’s my guess too. The process does involve ruling out other diagnoses so there may be some screening to rule out ASD but the whole assessment process for that is very involved so it would probably require more investigation.

The psychiatrist you see would likely be able to diagnose various MH conditions like OCD (or depression/anxiety).

[ShiftingSands21]

My guess would be they could possibly diagnose you with OCD there and then but if they suspected autism they would need to suggest you get another assessment as that is a more complex process.

[Nefelibata86]

Sorry if this is taking over the original post. Happy to start a new thread if so. I understand there is a crossover of diagnoses. If paying for a private adhd assessment would their remit be to say yes or no to the adhd alone or can they generally say if not adhd then it’s autism or ocd for instance? Or would that require a whole new assessment

[ShiftingSands21]

@DoNotTouchTheWater I have many yeses for everything that you are saying!!

[DoNotTouchTheWater]

Part of the problem is that it’s easy to mistake the issues for the things they ask you about in depression/anxiety screenings anyway.

Yes. I do struggle to find any motivation to sort out that overwhelming pile of laundry that needs folded and put away. It been there days. But we’re all dressed in clean clothes because it’s functioning as a makeshift clothes storage solution at this point. And I only ever remember it exists when I go in the utility room.

Yes I struggle to tidy my house. Yes it feels overwhelming but still I can’t just sort out the kitchen. But if you tell me you’re coming round in 30 minutes, I will dash around and you won’t know what a bloody disaster it has been for days because it’s just me and the kids.

Yes I do feel anxious about social interactions. I’m going to struggle to STFU and control my impulsivity. I’m fearful that I’ll be boring everyone with my (current) interests. I know I’m annoying. And I know that afterwards my brain will be going at a million miles an hour processing all the ways I was irritating and just crap afterwards.

So yes. Tick them all off the list. But they’re all effects of the issue. Not the cause.

[DoNotTouchTheWater]

I’d say that palming people off with depression and anxiety is the favoured approach. Looks like you’re doing something while taking the path of least resistance.

[Soontobe60]

@ShiftingSands21

I’d say the fact that there’s no actual physical tests as such for ADHD, ADD, ASD, PDA, etc may be a strong factor.

But there are no physical tests for depression or anxiety but they love to diagnose women and girls with those all day long.

I completely agree!

[DoNotTouchTheWater]

@ShiftingSands21

I wish I understood why they approach these things from this stance of disbelief and skepticism and gate keeping. I don’t know if it’s just about entrenched beliefs or if it’s more to do with scarcity of resources or something else. There is so little recognition of the compensation, masking and the personal toll that takes on us. As women we are so conditioned to compensate, put others first, not make a fuss etc. all the time from the very start of life. Especially for male practitioners, I guess they aren’t necessarily aware of this in general and so they can’t imagine the potential extent of it? I don’t know!

I’d say that lack of resources is a big factor. And the nhs reluctance translates more widely.

You’re right too - the whole not taking women seriously or recognising what our struggles tend to look like.

There’s a good reason why so many women are palmed off with a depression/anxiety diagnosis and some fucking sertraline. Or, if they get beyond the GP, they find themselves with diagnoses that aren’t ADHD and the issue is never properly resolved because it’s being approached in entirely the wrong way.

Any of the depression I’ve dealt with in my life has been a result of my struggles to cope with just not being neurotypical. And the trauma I have experienced (often because of not great choices that are very much related to my impulsivity) just makes the things I’ve been dealing with my whole life harder or impossible to deal with. It’s much easier for the whole system to say it’s just depression or whatever.

I’ve spent my whole life wondering how people manage to just do ordinary things. And how peaceful it must be to, for example, be the kind of person who has neat and tidy drawers of clothes or who doesn’t just lose everything. No amount of trying seems to make that happen for me.

The thing that’s made the biggest difference in my life is to have changed job and come into a team where neurodiversity is not just accepted by celebrated. I struggled with some basic stuff at the start and my boss gave me feedback. So I opened up and told her I think I’ve got adhd (and difficult life circumstances meant masking was not going as it usually would) and she was brilliant. She said that she’d have guessed I had ADHD from meeting me anyway and that she does not care in the least about diagnoses.

So that’s basically the exact opposite from my previous 40 years of experience.

[ShiftingSands21]

I’d say the fact that there’s no actual physical tests as such for ADHD, ADD, ASD, PDA, etc may be a strong factor.

But there are no physical tests for depression or anxiety but they love to diagnose women and girls with those all day long.

[LittleOwl153]

My daughter got rejected by the NHS psychiatrist(?) Despite her GP being certain. Because she was sitting nicely on the chair ?!? He told her aged 6 that she was just being a bit naughty!!!

[Soontobe60]

I’d say the fact that there’s no actual physical tests as such for ADHD, ADD, ASD, PDA, etc may be a strong factor.

[BringBackCoffeeCreams]

My DD was referred for assessment and the referral was rejected as she apparently doesn't have it. Not sure how they came to that decision given they never even met her. She already has an autism diagnosis as does her brother and he has recently got the ADHD diagnosis too.

[ShiftingSands21]

I wish I understood why they approach these things from this stance of disbelief and skepticism and gate keeping. I don’t know if it’s just about entrenched beliefs or if it’s more to do with scarcity of resources or something else. There is so little recognition of the compensation, masking and the personal toll that takes on us. As women we are so conditioned to compensate, put others first, not make a fuss etc. all the time from the very start of life. Especially for male practitioners, I guess they aren’t necessarily aware of this in general and so they can’t imagine the potential extent of it? I don’t know!

[DoNotTouchTheWater]

[quote ShiftingSands21]@Susu49 I don’t really understand why. My current NHS psychiatrist said my ADHD report was contradictory, but didn’t explain what that meant and I’ve reread and reread the report and I truly can’t make sense of that statement. He also said I couldn’t have it “because you would have been diagnosed as a child” and “you wouldn’t be able to stay in this seat” and also that “everyone has ADHD traits”. I do have mental health problems stretching back to early childhood and he seemed inclined to put everything down to “anxiety”. He has met me once. Previous NHS psychiatrist, who I met once also and then he left the service, said he wouldn’t accept the diagnosis either because it could also have been autism or a personality disorder and would need further assessment.

I guess I think it’s mainly about them not being very up to date with what neurodiversity looks like in women?[/quote]
I’d say that was exactly the problem.

Let’s face it, the first one could actually do the work to check out the possible alternative diagnoses. Couldn’t they?

The second sounds like he doesn’t even understand ADHD. More so as it tends to present in women.

My gp was a bit ridiculous too. He just kept saying that I would have have trouble at school and always being punished/not doing well. The fact I was always being told off for talking (that was the main feature of my school reports), that I never did my homework, that I lost and forgot stuff constantly, that my hyperactivity tends to present as twisting my hair into knots, and so on couldn’t be relevant because I wasn’t the stereotype of a naughty boy who runs around the classroom. 🙄

And the fact that I managed to do well at school despite being unable to organise myself or study or anything means it cannot be ADHD. No. The fact that my primary school thought I was really thick until I was 10, when a standardised test indicated that not only could I read (they didn’t think I could), my comprehension was adult level and I was really intelligent. The gap between potential and my perceived performance was enormous. After I got to secondary school I managed to get by on being clever but eventually it caught up with me and I fucked up two years of university (before life circumstances forced the kind of effort that gets you through) and I’ve struggled in various ways with being a competent adult with a job ever since. But somehow managing not to get sacked makes that irrelevant too. 🙄

It’s like they want to set the bar at a level if dysfunction where your life has totally imploded rather than recognising how much masking and compensation and general struggling goes on to just about keep things going.

[ShiftingSands21]

@Susu49 I don’t really understand why. My current NHS psychiatrist said my ADHD report was contradictory, but didn’t explain what that meant and I’ve reread and reread the report and I truly can’t make sense of that statement. He also said I couldn’t have it “because you would have been diagnosed as a child” and “you wouldn’t be able to stay in this seat” and also that “everyone has ADHD traits”. I do have mental health problems stretching back to early childhood and he seemed inclined to put everything down to “anxiety”. He has met me once. Previous NHS psychiatrist, who I met once also and then he left the service, said he wouldn’t accept the diagnosis either because it could also have been autism or a personality disorder and would need further assessment.

I guess I think it’s mainly about them not being very up to date with what neurodiversity looks like in women?

[Susu49]

@ShiftingSands21

I had a private assessment and was diagnosed. However my NHS psychiatrist does not accept the diagnosis.

Why is that, do you know?

[SwissCheeseRentedChildren]

Me. Although the assessor had only recently been trained, so I blame her, obviously .

I was diagnosed ASD (atypical) last year though. That goes some way to explaining why I am not suitable for modern life!