#adhd diagnostic evaluation

[empathyhealthclinic12]

Experience compassionate support & expert guidance for mental wellness in Orlando. Transform your life with our top rated mental health counselor in Orlando.

[theorderofthetriad]

the thing that really pisses me off about almost getting diagnosed with adhd but not because the results of the form my mother filled out reporting on what i was like as a child didn't match their diagnostic criteria is that i was supposed to mail them that form two weeks before the appointment but instead i brought in day of because i didn't get around to asking my mother to fill out the form until the last. possible. moment.

why the fuck did my mom's report of me as a child hold more diagnostic weight than the undeniable proof of my abilities at that very moment?

[phoenix-sayz-thingz]

Why don't they just pull out the dsm-5 and ask me questions from there

WDYM "WHAT DO 2 AND 7 HAVE IN COMMON"

LINES.

[ritualofthehabit]

I really want to call up my old psychiatrist and get the document that calls me “histrionic” and says I dress for attention…

[solarisposting]

Just took r*talin for the first time in probably six months, along with a large cold brew, to hopefully be able to get some cleaning done FINALLY. Let's see how this pans out and destroys my mental state for the rest of the evening :)

[liskantope]

I think you're very much over estimating how much professionals know about autism. Especially the average professional tasked with making diagnoses. They don't know shit dude

I definitely have the impression that your average run-of-the-mill psychiatrist or neurologist without a very specialized background in autism doesn't actually know that much about it or the intricacies of how to detect it, let alone (say) a therapist. I'm not sure if they're the ones who are even able to give diagnoses in the first place, given that the usual claim (which I've always understood to be correct) given by advocates of autism self-diagnosis is that getting diagnosed for autism requires spending thousands of dollars and many hours of time to be put through very involved tests as specialized autism centers that may be geographically unfeasible. (The only reason I'm entertaining the idea that autism could be diagnosed by non-specialists with far less trouble is that I do hear of various conditions being diagnosed that way despite the existence of rigorous tests in specialized clinics: I took a 15-minute ADHD test at a regular psychiatric clinic for instance*, and the ex I mentioned recently elsewhere got a Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis from her therapist by request via what sounds to me like 10 minutes of the therapist asking her questions about herself during their therapy session.)

If we're talking about going to a clinic / testing center specializing in autism and going through a rigorous test evaluating whether the patient conforms to what the American Psychological Association has laid out as an intricate set of criteria for autism, then I have one question, which is probably going to sound naive, and which relates to the "diagnosis criteria is a poor checklist of stereotypes" part of the meme we were arguing over. Which is, isn't this then just tautologically the correct way to diagnose autism? Or in other words, isn't autism just defined according to a scientific model for which psychologists and neurologists have created their most official tests following their most precisely-set-out criteria? Of course, what is deemed "autism" could be modified by said scientists, which after all is the nature of science. Of course, people can argue over whether the current criteria cut autism poorly out of thingspace in ways that are biased due to differences in how autism presents across genders and ethnic/cultural backgrounds. Probably it is. But I would think that deciding that the formal diagnostic criteria for autism doesn't align with what autism Actually Is requires some delicate semantic heavy lifting, no?

And then, arguing that the larger swaths of non-professionals who are trying to determine if they have autism are still not on average even worse placed than the professionals with their perhaps flawed diagnostic criteria, in a world where the most common cultural conception of autism is still probably pretty close to "socially awkward, doesn't feel like they fit in, intense nerdy interests, personality of Sheldon Cooper", is another thing.

(I notice, by the way, that self-diagnosis advocates don't seem to mention whether the faultiness in professional diagnoses include a substantial number of people without autism being diagnosed as having autism, but it seems that should be a thing too if the professionals really "don't know shit"?)

I'm genuinely open to the idea that the dynamics around diagnoses and diagnostic criteria and how they're formed, etc., even on a philosophical level, is something I haven't understood or thought out well enough, though.

*and came out of the experience rather skeptical that the 15-minute test way of determining ADHD isn't BS

[anarkittyuwuuniverse]

I'm feeling a bit conflicted about the whole self-diagnosis topic. Like I would say I generally lean towards being pro self-diagnosis, a diagnosis can be expensive, really difficult to get, having it on paper can have negative legal consequences and so on. Besides, coming from an anti-psychiatry perspective I think it's generally good to take the authority of psychiatrists down a notch, to recognize them as being flawed and biased humans too who frankly don't have as much access to a person's whole being as they themselves have, and then of course being critical of the conceptual validity of 'mental illness' as well. But I feel like being anti-psychiatry leads me to think that we need to keep the same critical eye on self-diagnosis that we have on formal diagnosis. Really it might be a little bit misleading to even call it 'self-diagnosis' in the first place, as if we're talking about the self-evaluation of a completely separated self, and not a self that exists in the context of peer-assessment, a social network of information and a culture (whether online or offline) with an increased vigilance towards psychiatric diagnoses. And these communities - despite not being institutional or professional - sometimes kinda do the work of the psychiatric industrial complex for it, by validating, legitimizing and expanding these categories to such a huge degree, which is how we get people talking about every little behavior in the language of 'symptoms'. What I'm saying is that while I think self-diagnosis is fine, it matters how it's done. It matters where you get your information from, for what purpose you want to label yourself with this category, how you come to understand it as well. Labeling yourself with a diagnostic category if it generally fits your experience can be somewhat helpful in coming to understand yourself better, but building an illness identity can also come with a load of negative consequences; like limiting yourself way more than needed, or to understand what might just be fleeting reactions to environmental pressures as eternal 'symptoms'. I saw someone on TikTok saying that it shouldn't be surprising that there are so many people with autism and ADHD on TikTok with it being a dopamine machine and having an algorithm that caters to your special interest. But then I could say that the reason I personally don't use TikTok is because I find the app really overstimulating and too fast-paced for my processing capabilities. I could easily frame this as a result of 'my autism' and make a sort of generalized statement about autists' relationship to this app and thus the legitimacy of 'believing' the people on it. But I really don't feel like making everything about symptoms and generalizing huge groups of people based on my personal experiences. So why does this person do that? I think what these kinds of discussions sort of miss is that whether or not the people on these social media communities are 'valid' is way less important than 'what do these platforms want with them?' TikTok has an audience that's trained on short-form fast-paced content that probably lowers their attention span somewhat. Could such an audience be more likely to identify with ADHD? Does TikTok have an interest in 'selling' the identity of ADHD to this audience? To give them a community that keeps them attached to the app, that keeps them engaged, maybe even instills a sense of pride in using the app and consuming this form of content? After all, it's a 'symptom'.

[ceridwyn2]

For my fellow ADHDers, diagnosed and undiagnosed but suspected ADHDers. Recent article discussing the diagnostic criteria, where the DSM-5 falls short, terminology, and a need to evaluate different symptom presentation of ADHD in adults - particularly as it relates to executive dysfunction and how it impacts different aspects of a person’s life, from work, home, relationships, etc.

[adhd-worlds]

hello! i just wanted to thank you for that post about how adhd and autism diagnosis criteria dont overlap - it's been on my mind since yesterday and uhh. im Realizing Things. 😅 the thought has been at the back of my mind for a while now due to my communication issues but i dismissed it with 'i got a little autism sprinkled into my adhd thats normal tho, they *are* on the same spectrum after all" but uhh. yeah. i think its gonna be more than that 😬 anyway, im gonna reevaluate my life further ig, thank you again and have a lovely day 💞💞

Hello! I'm glad to be of help! There's a few people in my comments saying that there is an overlap but there isn't! Depending on the study, around 50% of people with ADHD also have autism. Sometimes the %age is a little higher or a little lower.

Over stimulation isn't technically an ADHD symptom. Neither is struggling with eye contact, special interests, struggles with social cues, needing things to be done a certain way. Highly recommend this quiz, the RAADS-R test which is a professional diagnostic test that may be able to help you get some ideas in order. I strongly suggest doing this with a friend because evaluating yourself is hard and others will be more aware of how you come across.

[lightningshow]

An Open Reflection of my Growth in 2023

This has been the year of me getting real with myself. Real about my goals, my wants, my needs, my emotions, my thought patterns, etc. I feel like for a while I was using denial to protect myself from the reality of my poor mental health, but this past year I've really had to be honest with myself in order to grow. I feel like this mindset shift has led to the most amount of self growth in a year that I've ever experienced. Genuinely, I feel like an entirely different person than I did a year ago, in an entirely positive way. I'm much happier than I've ever been. (Full reflection under cut)

In Fall/Winter of 2022 I underwent a course of therapy designed to help me process and accept the traumatic events I went through in high school. I don't know why, but I had really brushed off how things like my eating disorder and self harm had affected me in the long term. And of course I was actively in an abusive situation. But I had just sort of expected myself to be okay despite what I had gone through. My therapist helped me to understand that what I went through wasn't normal or okay and it was okay for me to feel angry and sad about not having a normal childhood or teenage years. Being able to fully accept that what happened to me wasn't okay or normal took several sessions, but finally being able to accept it has really set me free. We did a lot of processing following that regarding my self esteem and twisted thinking in my relationships, and how I often felt like I wasn't good enough for my romantic partners and would try to mould myself into something they could love unconditionally.

I decided to focus on myself for a while and not engage with romantic relationships for the rest of the year. I needed time to explore myself and accept my entirety. I've been able to accept a lot more now that I contain multitudes and I don't need to flatten my identity to be easily understandable to others, nor do I need to change who I am to be liked.

In Spring of 2023 I continued seeing my long term therapist alongside taking a course on Self Love. This course really opened my eyes into the ways I was neglecting my own wants and needs, and how my low self esteem and lack of self respect was holding me back: in my relationships, my schooling, my career, and my life in general. I've shied away from a lot of opportunities because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to achieve them. At the same time, I've accepted poor treatment from friends and partners in the past because I didn't think I deserved any better. Since then, I've been trying very hard to reinforce to myself that my voice matters. I don't have to hide parts of who I am to make my friends and partners like me. I am allowed to be my full and complete self, and not everybody has to like me, and that's okay.

I've been trying to pay more attention to my wants and needs since then. My main goal this year has been to be a more active participant in my life. I decided to take time off of school this fall semester to reorient my goals and take the time to think long and hard about what I want from the remainder of my college experience. I also have actively been working in my projected career field, and have really been loving it. I used to be so afraid of a career. I was always worried that I wouldn't be good enough. But this past year I've been able to accept that I am capable of doing hard things and of getting through new experiences.

Another aspect of my mental health that has worsened my self esteem in the past is my anxiety and ADHD. I went undiagnosed (but with a diagnostic impression) until earlier this year when I underwent my first real psychiatric evaluation. For so long I had felt like I was just worse at things than everyone else, that my lack of focus and procrastination and struggle to meet deadlines was that I just wasn't trying hard enough and was lazy. At the same time, I didn't understand how everyone could do things in life so easily that were so scary to me (even small things like changing my route to get somewhere).

Since my diagnosis, I've been trying to have a lot more patience with myself regarding my symptoms and be honest with myself that most people around me aren't experiencing the world the way I am, and that I don't have to compare myself to them. This self acceptance has helped me make progress on finding coping mechanisms and strategies more than shaming myself ever did. The reminders on my phone, to-do lists, and planner I use religiously have gotten me so much further than reprimanding myself for not remembering things.

Unfortunately, my anxiety is still really hard to manage. I have finally been able to seek psychiatric help regarding this and am seeing a prescriber for the first time very soon. I'm excited for where that next step will take me, as I've never been prescribed any mental health medication before.

With my mental health symptoms, I've found now more than ever it's very important for me to be kind and understanding towards myself and not pass judgements on my character based on my behaviors. I work with children who often have behavioral health issues and this approach of not judging myself but instead seeking to understand why I'm behaving a certain way has been the foundation of how I've learned to accept and help them. I also have taken this same approach in my interpersonal relationships: seeking to understand why first and passing judgement second.

The other thing I've had to work very hard to accept is that I am only capable of controlling my own actions. I am only in control of myself, and I can't change how anyone else feels or acts. The only thing that I can do is try my best to be understanding and be a good person to those around me. I feel like with my anxiety I feel a huge need to be liked and accepted and understood by everyone around me, which I feel is a very human thing, but at the same time it's impossible to be my full self and have everyone like me. So. It is what it is.

My body image has also significantly improved. I still have hard days, but since I've stopped living for others and processed a lot of my trauma I've really been able to let go of my desire to be attractive or desirable to others. The only person my body needs to exist for is me. I have ownership over myself. I get to choose what I do with my body. I feel like my pro-bodily autonomy stance has finally extended to me. I've definitely had a few mental lows this year and a few days where I've had to fight back ED behaviors, but the important thing is I've won every time. I have so much more respect for my body now and feel so proud of myself for letting go of my desire for perfection.

The final aspect that I want to talk about is the mindset shift that has helped me the most, which is practicing gratitude and seeking beauty in the ordinary. Because of my trauma and anxiety, my brain is wired to see the world as a scary and evil place. I've been trying to combat this but choosing to see the beauty in things. Earlier this year, we had our window open for a few months and a pair of birds built a nest there. That kept me going just seeing them there for weeks. I find I cry more often now, not out of pain or grief, but because I become so overwhelmed by the beauty of the world or the actions of others. I spent so long thinking I could only be hurt in this world that I'm still surprised every time I see deep expressions of love and care. I'm so grateful for the people who care about me and for the joy I'm able to experience. I tell people I love them much more liberally now because nothing in this life is guaranteed.

This has been my mental health wrapped. Thank you if you read this and please feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you're proud of accomplishing this year ❤️

[empathyhealthclinic12]

Discover specialized ADHD treatment in Orlando at Empathy Health Clinic. Benefit from our comprehensive approach, delivering lasting relief tailored to your needs. Schedule your visit today!

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Hi! I just got my first appointment for a neuropsych evaluation scheduled today. I'm going in to find out if I can be officially diagnosed with autism/ADHD, and I was wondering if you had any tips for me. I'm super nervous and my anxiety isn't helping, so I was hoping for something that might put my mind at ease a little. Any words of wisdom on what I should expect?

Hi there,

I would start by writing down what symptoms/traits that you think applies to you. They might ask about your childhood experiences. I found an article talking about what to expect during an evaluation process:

Autism evaluations usually start with a screening questionnaire. If the questionnaire indicates that a child might have autism, then it’s time for a more in-depth evaluation. A child should never get a diagnosis based on just the questionnaire.

The evaluation will include a set of tests in which the clinician watches how the child plays, behaves and communicates. These tests include specific tasks and ways of evaluating the child, and they are backed up by research. One common version is called the ADOS test.

The results of these tests can be hard to interpret. For example, a child might not make eye contact because they have autism. But they might also avoid eye contact because they are very shy. It’s important for an experienced clinician to do the evaluation because they can recognize the more subtle signs of autism.

A full evaluation should also include interviews with parents, teachers and other adults who know the child. Structured cognitive tests should be part of the evaluation as well. These tests show how the child thinks and provide important information about what kinds of support at school would be helpful.

A pediatrician might give the first screener, but the full evaluation should be done by someone specially trained in diagnosing autism. You can ask about the clinician’s training and experience, as well as how they usually do evaluations. They should be able to give clear answers to your questions and take the information you provide seriously.

I’ll leave the full article below so you can check it out.

I hope this can help. I wish you luck during your evaluation.

Thank you for the inbox. I hope you have a wonderful day/night. ❤️

[ripplestitchskein]

Having my number of views on the Look My Way video would have been so handy when I was getting my diagnosis back in the day.

“We’re going to have you fill out a battery of questionnaires and complete some tests. I know your original diagnosis was ADHD with med recommendation as a child but a lot has changed with the diagnostic criteria especially for females and there is a lot of comorbities with ASD so we’re going to spend the next six hours doing a full re-evaluation.”

*slides my view count for Look My Way across the NeuroPsychologist’s desk*

“Oh. Never mind, I’ll get that written up.”

[communistkenobi]

“If you know your IQ score you’re a mark” IQ test comes with the psych eval for autism and adhd. And just because IQ doesn’t measure human worth doesn’t mean it has no worth. Refusal to understand human functioning honestly hurts the credibility of your whole blog

poor phrasing on my part (i should say “if you voluntarily take an IQ test you’re a mark”), but are you honestly suggesting IQ scores being a part of diagnostic criteria for things like autism and ADHD is a good thing? Do you think people interacting with psychological institutions benefit from being measured by something called an intelligence quotient? Every diagnostic instrument should be evaluated in its ability to inflict harm, especially when used in a public health capacity. Linking the concept of intelligence to mental illness, especially when evaluating a person’s access to medication and their ability to exercise agency in their lives, can and does cause significant amounts of harm.

IQ tests are good at measuring a person’s ability to take an IQ test, or to be more generous, certain standardised tests in an academic setting. Which I agree is not entirely useless if you want to measure peoples’ abilities to perform in academic contexts. However, attaching IQ to a person’s mental health diagnosis is not a neutral process. If IQ is attached to diagnosis, it is also attached to insurance coverage of medications, specialist appointments, and medical testing. If mental health diagnoses affect disability status (which they do), it means that IQ is also attached to state benefits, social housing, employment opportunities, grants, tax breaks, you name it. You cannot silo IQ into a neat little box that is divorced from the rest of a person’s life. And given the colonial history of IQ as an instrument for producing scientific forms of white supremacy, you need to be extra suspicious of its ability to determine the “mental fitness” of a human being. The concept of accurately measuring the intelligence of a human being on a single axis is itself worthy of deep skepticism, if not outright rejection.

In conclusion: you’re a mark, congratulations!

[train-wreck-of-thought]

Continue below if you'd rather not read it on Medium.

It's frustrating how many people will stop taking you seriously if you call yourself neurodivergent. It's a genuinely useful term--especially in my case.

I'm a thirty year old man with a long, complicated diagnostic history. If you'll indulge me, I'd like to go over some of it (though if you'd rather take me at my word, feel free to skip down to the last paragraph).

At age six, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Three years later, this diagnosis was affirmed.

A year after that, however, a neuropsychologist disputed this diagnosis. He further shot down my parents' suspicions that I was autistic.

It seems someone--and to this day, it's unclear who--thought otherwise, because a diagnosis of autism somehow found its way into my records. At the age of twenty, a psychological evaluation affirmed this diagnosis. The psychologist further noted that I showed several symptoms of ADHD but thought they could be accounted for by the diagnosis of autism. Finally, she diagnosed me with "major depressive disorder, recurrent, sever with psychotic features."

Seven years later, another psychological evaluation disputed the diagnoses of autism and ADHD, only affirming the diagnosis of MDD (albeit moderate rather than severe and without mention of psychotic features). The evaluation noted attention issues but attributed them to depression and anxiety. The evaluation further noted a level of social discomfort but attributed that to social anxiety disorder rather than autism.

My psychiatrist at the time, meanwhile, suggested I suffered from CPTSD. I called up a trauma therapy practice, and the practitioner I spoke to agreed that there were "multiple complex layers of trauma." I was eventually set up with a trauma therapist in training, and she seemed to think I did indeed suffer from CPTSD.

A year after the second psychological evaluation, I was hospitalized. The diagnosis at discharge was listed as schizophrenia. The diagnosis was a bit bewildering to both me and the councilor-in-training I was seeing, and to be honest, I thought they might've just put that down so they could put me on expensive antipsychotics (and it wouldn't be the first time something like that happened, but that's another story).

Then again, maybe they were onto something, because the psychiatrist I'm currently seeing diagnosed me with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. Personally, I think that's a bit extreme--I could see bipolar II with psychotic features, maybe--but I'm not the expert. As if for good measure, she also said I might be autistic after all.

If you can believe it, that's not quite everything--that's just the tidiest I could make it--but the point is that my diagnostic history is a mess. Everything I've been diagnosed with has been disputed--whether explicitly (as with autism and ADHD) or implicitly (as with MDD and schizoaffective disorder being diagnostically exclusive with one another).

I have a feeling people reading this might raise an eyebrow at how much time I've spent on all the conditions I may or may not have, and in a sense, that's the point. I wish we lived in a world where, instead of explaining all that, I could just say I'm neurodivergent, but there are so many people who'd read that word and assume I don't actually a psychiatric condition--and meanwhile, professionals seem to think I have all of them.

[thelightfluxtastic]

Nobody directly has been bad about this so this is more of an affirmation/journal type post or a PSA but I still feel I should say it.

I've had cerebral palsy since birth.

Today, on the advice of several people, I have had a neuropsych evaluation for autism. I expect the results in May and am curious what feedback I'll get. (and to be absolutely clear, diagnosis is not required for self-identification, but that's not the point right now)

Regardless of those results, I am neurodivergent. I have been neurodivergent since birth due to cerebral palsy.

In fact, the therapist made a point of telling me the assessment would only tell me whether I met autism (or other) diagnostic criteria. It would and could not distinguish which neural traits and experiences were caused by which. That's not how brains work.

And I've known that for a while. But neurodiversity language is so so dominated by autism and ADHD. To the point that the rainbow infinity symbol coined for all neurodivesity is just commonly used as an autism symbol now. And I've internalized it to the point that, even when calling myself neurodivergent (a true fact) I've felt hesitant because well I'm not quite sure if I'm autistic, will people assume I mean that, am I somehow being misleading, and so on and so forth.

So I just...want to set my stance firmly on neurodiversity means All Neurodiveristy from epilepsy to brain tumors to ALS and I've been neurodivergent forever regardless of whether I tick the autism box. And if you're reading this as a person that needs to hear that it applies to you to. And if you're reading this and have used "neurodivergent" to just mean "autism and adhd" please consider stopping.