Can You Improve Adult ADHD Without Medications?
www.psychologytoday.com
Adult ADHD and seven non-drug treatments.

After heavily relating to an ADHD meme that i saw here, I am now scared that I might have ADHD. I don't have any idea how I'd go about getting a diagnosis as an adult who didn't really have issues in school as a child.

I saw this article posted in this comm, and it seems to have decent advice. Anyone actually follow it here? Especially the adding structure bit?

I usually run away from structuring myself because it's too intimidating and I usually fall off the wagon. Anyone got any tips for being more organized with tasks and bigger projects/long term goals?

I think I mostly figured out the first point of "getting over your inner critic", but I feel like I need help getting through the other parts in the article, and it seems like organization/planning is crucial to that.

  • crime [she/her, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Hey comrade! Discovering that you have ADHD is nothing to be scared of — if you're like me, it'll ultimately be a good thing to get a deeper understanding of how your brain works, even if the journey can be a bit overwhelming and emotionally complicated.

    For me, absolutely no strategies work and work consistently without medication. I could never just add structure and stick with it for more than a week or two without it.

    I got diagnosed as an adult too, despite doing well in school as a child. It wasn't too difficult for me (other than a TON of phone tag and appointments. It feels cruel that they put the treatment for "can't solve mazes disorder" at the end of a labyrinth lol). YMMV but here's what the process looked like for me:

    • talked to my primary care doctor and got a referral to a psychologist for evaluation
    • the psychologist had me fill out a loooong survey about myself, my childhood, my habits, my health, my family history, things like that
    • I met with the psychologist, who went over my survey answers and asked me more questions in the same vein — in particular we talked about how I did well in school despite being chaotically disorganized and rarely doing my homework because I've got a good memory and test well and I can focus on things that I like
    • The psychologist asked for contact information for my family to interview them. I don't speak with my parents, so they interviewed my sister (remotely and asynchronously since we live in different countries and there's a big time zone gap)
    • The psychologist had me do a bunch of tests like memorizing words and copying a diagram and sorting cards and things like that — mostly to rule out things like brain injury or dementia
    • The psychologist diagnosed me with ADHD, and threw in an anxiety diagnosis for good measure
    • went back to my primary care doctor who referred me to a psychiatrist for treatment
    • after a lot of phone calls and waiting I finally got an appointment with my psychiatrist who started me on adderall since I'd taken some in college and reacted well to it

    Happy to answer any questions if you've got 'em!

    Love and solidarity :stalin-heart: