My ADHD diagnosis process

I recently shared that I was diagnosed with ADHD. I write these words 12 days into medication and holy shit I feel totally transformed. The stuck, scrambly feelings and frustration have nearly evaporated. I am firing on all cylinders, which turns out is super necessary in this moment in time. What a relief!

The response to my post was a reminder that The World Wide Web is truly magnificent. People were so excited and supportive: “Welcome to the club, Brad!” But also, my inbox blew up with many people — some friends, some internet friends, some strangers — sharing their stories with me.

Some shared their experience with ADHD/mental health issues, but many others wondered how I went about getting my diagnosis. They told me heartbreaking stories of struggle, trauma, and its impact on their lives, productivity, and well-being. Which OF COURSE! That’s a perfectly logical and natural result of dealing with such difficult situations. Yet their stories came wrapped in the guilt, shame, and embarrassment of it all.

My process for getting evaluated for ADHD

Many people asked what my process for getting diagnosed looked like. I can’t promise the same for anyone else, but for me it was pretty straightforward. Here’s what I did:

  1. Reached out to my PCC, who came back with recommendations for therapists. This however is not what I needed; I needed a place that would be able to give a proper ADHD evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment plan. 
  2. I googled ADHD evaluation centers in my area that accepted my insurance. A few didn’t call me back. One place didn’t accept my insurance. Ah the joys of the US healthcare system.
  3. Made an in-person appointment. We discussed my situation, symptoms, history with the doctor.
  4. In our session, they had me fill out a symptom questionnaire (not sure the name, but I was told closely follows the DSM-5) involving circling the symptoms that applied to me (e.g. Do you find yourself starting tasks that never get finished?), and sent me home with a different questionnaire (The Brown ADHD Scale) for both me and my wife to complete.
  5. At my follow-up appointment, we reviewed the questionnaires with the doctor, had another conversation digging into things in more detail. They then gave me a diagnosis of ADHD, and we discussed treatment.
  6. They described the treatment plan, prescribed me an initial dose of an initial medicine, made a follow up appointment, called in the script, and I picked it up on my way home.
  7. I started the medicine the following morning, and was giving a paper to track things like time taken, how I feel, time I notice the medicine wears off, and any side effects.
  8. Have regular follow-up appointments (every 1-2 weeks) to review how things are going and adjust the medicine/dose if need be. This will continue until we get the dose and treatment plan dialed in, and then I will continue to have appointments every month or two to monitor and adjust.

That’s it! Pretty straightforward: line up a doctor, talk and explore, get a diagnosis, get a treatment plan, follow treatment plan. Again, I obviously can only speak from my experience, but if others had a similar experience to me I’d say AWESOME!

This is no different than requiring eyeglasses

Let’s come back to the guilt, shame, and embarrassment around all of this. We need to cut that shit out.

I can’t remember where I first heard/read this, but I’ve deeply internalized it:

Mental health issues are biological phenomenon no different than eyesight being less than 20/20 and requiring glasses to correct.

Obviously there’s still stigma around needing glasses (cue playground bullies teasing “4 Eyes!”), but by and large the fact many people need corrective care for their vision is widely accepted. Sorta a shrug. Of course, right?

Let’s get to eyeglasses’ level of stigma around mental health. After what I’ve dealt with, I feel compelled to help change our collective attitude about mental health. That’s why I’m sharing this. That’s why I’ve shared my other run-ins with mental health issues. That’s why I worked with and continue to support Project Healthy Minds. That’s why I want to keep the conversation going. You deserve to be healthy, happy, and safe. The people in your life deserve to be healthy, happy, and safe. Everyone in the world deserves to be healthy, happy, and safe.