Where can I get diagnosed?

[Pianoplayer28]

I’ve been struggling to find someone to diagnose me, and everyone around me tells me I have all the symptoms of ADHD. I just want to get diagnosed and find out. I don’t care about the medication even though I might need it… I just want to know, and it seems really hard to find someone to do it… can anyone help me with any resources?

[Catfrenzy]

I reached out to CHADD’s national resource hotline. They provided me with contact info of a local University’s psych dept that does screenings but ultimately I did my screening through a practice that was recommended to me by a therapist in my area. Good luck!

[theblogger in reply to Catfrenzy]

I don't think It would be safe for me to get a diagnosis because it would mean that people could manipulate and use my ADHD for their own needs. autism is fine, I have a lot of control over it, my autism is fake, it's my safety net

[Hidden]

You will want to find someone who specializes in diagnosing AD(H)D in women. If they are not experienced in this specific area, they may use boy's symptoms and other markers like whether or not you were diagnosed by age 12 to make their diagnosis, and this is usually wrong for women. I am in the same boat, at age 52 and I have health insurance that offers mental health care and I cannot get diagnosed because their only metric for deciding who can go to the ADHD assessment center is being diagnosed by age 12, and I was 12 in 1982 when it was still thought that ADD (what it was called at the time) ONLY affected boys. So my health insurer is using a sexist and ageist criteria for determining my care.

[Pianoplayer28 in reply to Hidden]

Wow I’m so sorry to hear that! I feel like I’m getting that same treatment from all my doctors…. The first psychiatrist asked me if I was diagnosed as a kid and told her no, and that was the end of it. I should’ve told her that my father didn’t believe ADHD was real and he’s never diagnose me for anything… not even the depression I have. Anyway, my current psychiatrist got frustrated with me because I wanted to be screened…. Instead he just gave me Concerta (Stimulant) and said “see if that works”….. I mean it’s something but I had to fight so hard for some kind of path