Spoke to my therapist about attempting to get a formal ADHD diagnosis and the conversation went... sideways...
She seems to be a big fan of the social model of disability (which I am as well), but also seems to be completely against any medical treatments including medication to the point where our entire session became about why I would be "medicine seeking" or why I am insistent that I "need to be fixed"...
She asked me what I thought me + Ritalin/Adderall could do that me without foreign substances in my body couldn't do.
I thought it would be a step forward since I am heavily dependent on caffeine to even function with multiple energy drinks, coffee, and soda all being necessary for me to focus enough to perform my day job and said that I felt that a supervised dosage of stimulants had to be better for my health than self-applied legal stimulants with no direction...
Needless to say, she disagreed and immediately moved to "What if we worked to make it so that you don't need any stimulants?" which felt a lot like she was denying my personal experience...
I have tried going caffeine-free and it gets really bad, like missing appointments and failing in my obligations to people that I care about bad... All sense of time goes right out the window and everything I do seems to become special interest directed... It's not good...
@Boardinthelibrary Nothing as drastic as turning to Christianity, she is a Buddhist and understands that a lot of my major hang-ups are from my Catholic up-bringing...
She seems very anti-medicine (including of course big pharma) so much so that the mere suggestion of looking into medicine resulted in her suggesting that we should instead be moving in the other direction and look to start removing anything that I am currently using to manage things...
@BeardedRogue @Boardinthelibrary get a second opinion, Tony. I haven't had a formal diagnosis yet, but I probably should.
I did have a friend, however, who was at his wits end with dealing with the side effects of his behavior (he thought he was just forgetful and absent minded and his wife thought he didn't care). He was assessed as having ADD and started meds and it probably saved his PHD, his career, and his marriage.
@BeardedRogue @Boardinthelibrary He kept encouraging me to get assessed. I still haven't as I try to cope other ways (probably unhealthily).
The one time I brought it up with my doctor, her assessment was that I wasn't in a range that required meds and was concerned about other family history (addiction) that encouraged caution.
However, I have seen it work for people. As long as any concerns are taken into account and monitored, it shouldn't be withheld.
Tony Miller
John P
Jim Jones