(US specific advice)

I felt like my GP was really only good for getting the ball rolling: I asked her to refer me to a psychologist for testing and she did. To be honest, I think you could skip the GP step and just meet with any clinical psychologist to discuss with that person your concerns about ADHD. Their office should be able to tell you if they can do ADHD testing before you go in. Some psychiatrists may test as well. The difficulty, of course, is that psychologists are often out of pocket or are paid at a reduced rate by insurance.

After the testing is done many GPs are willing to do med management, though it's a pain, since the Federal government requires prescriptions to be for no more than 30 days and you can't refill it more than three days ahead of time. Personally I have my neurologist manage it, but I have epilepsy and it makes sense to me to go to her for all of my brain medications.

Here's where my misconceptions may start: it seem to me like meds are the only real treatment. This could be wrong.

IIRC, psychiatrists don't have that tool in their toolbox, so would a psychologist or neurologist be better?

And to be clear, I'm not just looking to get meds. But I'd like to avoid pinging in between different doctors. So if I can go to one that has all available tools at their disposal, that would seem the most straightforward.

> it seem to me like meds are the only real treatment. This could be wrong.

I'll comment on this, as a neurologically tested ADHD 30 year old with 2 decades of on/off medication experience.

"Treatment" is a spectrum, unsurprisingly, and a bit of a misnomer. While I'm not completely on board with the "ADHD is actually a superpower" train of thought, I do believe that there are some interesting tradeoffs that having it can benefit in some ways - obviously that's different for every person. If you start throwing away the concept of being binary "treated" or not, you can start thinking in terms of "what is working for me right now". Sometimes being medicated is a life changing benefit, and other times in my life I'm waaay better off without medication.

It's important to distinct the two, because what medication can get you is a better understanding of the daily patterns that work best for you, and it is (in my opinion) the best way to start building that understanding. Sometimes medication is the only way for me to reach a certain place I want to be, and no medication can do the same, but I firmly believe that the habits I build during medicated periods of time help me make the most out of my non medicated periods.

For what it's worth, when I talk about on/off periods -- I was medicated in middle school through high school, took my first two college years off, got back on the next two, final year of college was no medication, got back on for 2ish years when I entered the workforce, then took the next 4 years off. I'm back on it now. I don't really consider week or weekend breaks an off period.

So, a psychiatrist is an MD and, as such, can prescribe medicines. The psychologist is-- to all intents and purposes-- a therapist. (I'm painting with super broad brushes here, there are psychiatrists that operate as therapists first and medicine prescribers second, etc.) I suggested a clinical psychologist because they're usually the ones who have the training to act as a therapist while also understanding how the brain works. They're often the people trained to assess someone for ADHD.

No matter what, any good doctor will want to have you assessed by a psychologist or a psychiatrist. You may want to ask your GP if he or she is willing to prescribe the medicine provided a psychologist/psychiatrist diagnoses you. That's usually the easiest thing to do.

On the contrary, a psychiatrists primary role is to prescribe psychoactive medication.

(Since you called them a "GP", I'm guessing that you're in the UK)

I mean, nobody can really tell you anything about your set of circumstances without you giving info. For some people under the NHS, with good doctors, they go to their GP and the GP listens to their reasons why and then refers them to a psychiatrist who can diagnose them formally, and they are given other interrim support in the meantime, along with the necessary doctors notes to explain things to work or whatever is required.

However, for other people whose GPs are overworked or just incompetent, they could be met with something like "Well you don't seem like you have that" (Personally, I had this with a fatigue problem I was experiencing).

The solution to this is already built-in to the NHS. You are allowed to choose your primary care provider. The solution is to do what most people with disabilities learn to do -- you "shop around" doctors until you find one that genuninely gives a shit about you and wants to work with you to help you diagnose and cure your ailments. While it can feel dirty, and sometimes mean to the individual doctors -- many incompetent people still have the best intentions -- ultimately they are there to help you and your health and quality of life is the primary concern here.

Thank you! Actually in the US (I didn't realize that term may have country connotation), but this advice is still very good and applicable.

I would say it applies much more strongly in the US, because you are quite literally paying for them to listen to you, rather than in the UK where it is a negligible amount through a specific type of tax. If they do not help you or listen to you then there's quite literally no point paying for their salary.

If you suspect you have ADHD, try to find a psychiatrist/clinic specializing in adult ADHD. "Adult" is the key word here, general ADHD doctors are still focused on children. Finding an adult ADHD specialist gives you much better chance of not being ignored or pattern-matched to something else.

If you're worried it'll make you seem like you're looking for a diagnosis you'd like, be honest and up-front with them. Say, "I have a hypothesis that I have ADHD, I'm looking to have it confirmed or rejected, and in the latter case, to be directed towards a better one. Here is why I believe I may have ADHD...".

Hey there! Sorry for the delay – it's not a dumb question at all first off and a lot of solid responses were posted below.

Here's what worked for me (EU) after suspecting ADHD early last year:

1. I searched for and found a local psychotherapist who is specialized in ADHD and had experience with adults[^1]

2. We met and went through several weeks of testing that resulted in a specific diagnosis[^2]

3. She referred me to a local psychiatrist who I've since worked with in regards to medication[^3] As stated below, psychotherapists can NOT (EU) prescribe medication.

Things I had wished I knew before:

1. To work with a psychotherapist in parallel because the diagnosis was both, very liberating and de-stabilizing and needed space to discuss. In my experience, the psychiatrist is NOT your talking buddy but a professional who you work together to find a treatment that works for you.

2. To not expect family or friends to understand the (positive) impact diagnosis and treatment have on you.

Hope this helps!

- [^1] While I also think that it's important to highlight and discuss "Adult" ADHD because we're adults here, it's the same underlying neuro-genetic disorder, so I don't personally make the distinction often

- [^2] See "Types" at https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/facts.html

- [^3] I'm intentionally vague here mostly to not suggest or recommend a specific class or product.

In my case, I was referred to a psychologist who specializes in Adult ADHD. She then did a very comprehensive test (took 2 sessions of 3 hours), which included an IQ test: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–IV (people with ADHD have very skewed results with usually bad results in processing speed and working memory), some questionaires and discussion.

I then was referred to a psychiatrist to discuss treatment and to an ADHD coach.

I do know people who have gotten a very quick diagnosis with a 20 minutes questionnaire but I wanted to actually be sure of the diagnosis and not being diagnosed with ADHD just because I somehow self convinced myself that I had it by reading online.

This would be helpful to be as well. Even my family doctor wanted to stay as far back away from me as possible when I brought up getting tested for ADHD.

Not a dumb question at all. I feel the same way, any GP I've mentioned it to never seemed interested in really helping.

I think your ADHD got the best of you today, because the comment you're replying to suggests working with a psychiatrist. :)

haha. That's the funny thing. I've heard differing things about psychiatrist, psychologist, and neurologist.