Kristen Carder

Welcome to the I have ADHD podcast, where it’s all about education, encouragement and coaching for adults with ADHD. I’m your host, Kristen Carter and I have ADHD. Let’s chat about the frustrations, humor and challenges of adulting relationships working and achieving with this neurodevelopmental disorder. I’ll help you understand your unique brain, unlock your potential and move from point A to point B. Hey, what’s up, this is Kristen Carter and you’re listening to the I have ADHD podcast. I am medicated, I am caffeinated. I am regulated, and I am ready to roll.

Welcome. I’m so glad that you’re here. I’m so so glad that you press play on this podcast. I know there’s millions of podcasts out there, the fact that you press play on this one is not an accident, it’s not a mistake. I am so glad that you are here with me. Whether you are driving in your car, you’re doing your dishes, folding your laundry out for a run whatever it is that you are doing. As you are hanging out with me, I hope that this 30 minute pod makes your life better and easier. And that you can get your stuff done with me here in your ears. That’s how I use podcasts as a body double to get stuff done. I imagine that that’s probably how you use podcasts as well. And so I’m happy to be that for you. Thanks for being here.

I am going to speak with you today about how to acquire an ADHD diagnosis in 2024. I already have a couple of episodes on this topic. But I’ve been podcasting for five years. And a lot of things have changed in the last five years. So I wanted to update all of the info I wanted in this post COVID era to give you some online platforms, and some really good tips and tricks for acquiring an ADHD diagnosis, whether it’s for you, or maybe somebody that you love. So if you know somebody with ADHD, or they suspect they have ADHD, but they haven’t yet taken the step to get a diagnosis, or to be evaluated for it. You can send them this pod and hopefully it will be helpful to them.

Before I get started. Today, I just wanted to give you an update on my life. Because a couple episodes ago, I recorded an app called Everything I’ve been thinking about lately, and y’all resonated with that podcast. I’ve never gotten so much feedback. I’ve never gotten so much feedback from a podcast as I have from that one. And so I’m glad I’m surprised. It’s hard to be vulnerable and tell you all of the things but I’m really glad that it resonated with you. So I wanted to let you know i said in that episode that I really need to find some hobbies. I really need to find some hobbies. It is winter in Pennsylvania. It is dark, it is jury it is freezing cold.

My husband plays hockey and has this whole group of friends that he hangs out with with his hockey friends. And my kids have sports and activities and friends. And I want to I do I don’t know, I just like drive people around and watch Grey’s Anatomy. And that is not the life that I want to live forever. So I decided that I need a hobby or two. And I think I think I’m doing a good job. I went to yoga, I actually put on the clothes, drove in the freezing cold in the dark to the studio when in I was all alone. I didn’t have any friends. It was totally fine. Nobody talked to me. As predicted. I live in the Northeast. And that’s what happens in the Northeast. So nobody talks to me. That’s fine. I can handle it. The instructor was warm and kind and really helpful. I’ve practiced yoga, you know, intermittently throughout my life. So I understand the poses, but it was really helpful. She gave me some instruction and it she just really made me feel like a part of the group even though it was my first time so that, like if you have one person in a group or in a room who is willing to make space for a newbie, that makes a big difference, and so that was really helpful. I will definitely be going back. So Thursday night’s yoga night. I would also like Monday night to be yoga night. That has not happened. But my son’s birthday party was on Monday. So I think I got a pass for not going to yoga that night. So Monday, Thursday yoga, this will only be a wintertime thing. There’s no way I’m going to go inside of a studio or a gym or anything like that in the summer. That is just not for me. That is that is not for me. I need to be outside at all times in the summer.

But yeah, winter hobby. I think that works. And then also y’all I’m so pumped about this next hobby that I have picked up which is I’m brushing up on my Spanish and I mean I guess this makes me sound I don’t know boring or old but I I’m so pumped. I want to be really good at Spanish. I’ve always wanted to be really good at Spanish. I took four years in high school, and I am decent, I understand enough to like, not die if I am in Mexico. But I want to be really good. I want to be really, really good. And so I downloaded Duolingo This podcast is not sponsored by Duolingo. But maybe it should be downloaded Duolingo I’ve been on a four day streak. It’s shocking how much I do remember. So that’s great. What I love about Duolingo is it has you speak and listen and write. And so I’m I feel like I’m getting like a very comprehensive, I don’t know, first of all review, but then I am learning a lot. I’m keeping a list of vocab words that I am struggling to remember. So I haven’t actually right here for those of you who are looking on YouTube have a list of my vocab words that I’m really trying to remember. And I am just I’m just tickled. I’m so excited to learn Spanish and to actually be really good at it. I really want to be good at it. I am taking my team, my executive team and I invited some colleagues to come with me to Cancun, I’m going to Cancun, Mexico, Cancun, in a couple of weeks, and I am pumped about that. And I will be You better believe I will be using my Spanish left and right. I cannot wait. And also I do have like a casual friend who’s Colombian. And gosh, I really want to ask her, will you speak Spanish with me? But the vulnerability of speaking someone else’s, like mother tongue language with them, when I know I’m not good at it. And I know obviously she is i That makes me feel a big feeling and makes me feel a big feeling. But then when I turned the tables, and I’m like, Hello. She has been speaking English with me for years, like it’s so kind of her to speak English with me, even though that is not her preferred language.

So I may I may work through that vulnerability and ask her if she would like to hang out. She likes plants. I like plants. So I thought I could ask her to go plant shopping with me. And I’d say kitties are a comprar plant as komikko Do you want to go plan shopping with me? I’ll ask her that but dang really hard. So I’m gonna hopefully I’ll have another update for you soon. Well say listen, I asked Andrea to go plan shopping with me. And it was a success. But Woolsey. Okay, those are the updates on my life. For those of you who are new listening, you’re like, I don’t care about this. And I apologize. But some of y’all are invested. And I wanted to give you the updates.

Oh, last update. I have not had one drop of alcohol since New Year’s Eve. Still, no alcohol. I don’t know what the plan is. I truly do not know what the plan is. I’m not willing to say that I’m going to be alcohol free forever. But I am experimenting with what does it look like for me Kristen Carter to not drink? What’s hard about that? What’s easy about that? What aspects are harder in my life. And I will tell you right now, it’s emotional regulation and unwinding. At the end of the day. That’s what’s harder, and what aspects are easier. And I’ll tell you right now it’s sleep, and focus during the day like getting up and getting moving. So I don’t know where I’m at other than I’m still not drinking, and I don’t know where this is going to go. But I am just in experimentation mode. So that’s okay. Those are my updates. For you newbies, you’re like, I don’t care. Okay, sorry about that.

Taking care of your health isn’t always easy, but it should at least be simple. Like why isn’t it more simple. And that’s why for the last two years, I’ve been drinking ag one persistently, pretty much every day. It’s just one scoop, mixing water once a day, and it makes me feel so much better. I’ve noticed improved focused, better mental clarity, better concentration. And what I just learned about it is that it supports healthy hormone production, which is so important to me, now that I’m in perimenopause, I truly do feel so much better. And that’s because each serving of ag one delivers my daily dose of vitamins, minerals, pre and probiotics and more. It’s just like a really powerful, healthy habit that’s also powerfully simple. And it has to be simple, right? Because I have ADHD, if it’s not simple, I’m telling you, I’m not going to do it. And that’s just the truth. This is so simple. Now, you all know that for decades, I have reached for the coffee pot the instant that my eyes open and when I introduce To the I use the word habit very loosely the habit of drinking ag one. I’ve done that later in the day. But to my absolute shock, I’ve been able to change that. Now I drink ag one first thing in the morning, which is recommended for optimal nutrient absorption.

I literally picture my like gut and my cells just like absorbing all of the goodness first thing in the morning. And I’ve got to tell you, I do feel a difference, I feel it my shaker with extra cold water, my eyes are not even open yet. I add one scoop of ag one, I shake it up good to go. It takes me 30 seconds max from start to finish. And I am not exaggerating it. It’s so simple, or I wouldn’t do it. And it’s helped me feel so much better, especially in the mornings. If there’s one product that I had to recommend to elevate your health, it’s a big one. And that’s why I’ve partnered with them for so long. And exclusively, they’re the only product that I’ve allowed to have ads on this podcast because I believe in it so much. So if you want to take ownership of your health, start with ag one, try ag one and get a free one year supply of vitamin D 3k. two and five, free ag one travel packs with your first purchase exclusively at drink, ag one.com/i have ADHD, that’s drink ag one.com/i have ADHD, check it out. So we’re gonna talk today about how to acquire an ADHD diagnosis in 2024. And I am just like, so excited that this is actually easier than it’s ever been. And I do not mean easier to fool clinicians into falsely diagnosing you. I mean, easier for people who actually have ADHD to get an accurate diagnosis for the disorder. And we all need to be cheering about that, because it has been hard. It has been so hard for people with ADHD to be diagnosed for ADHD, okay, but it’s getting easier. And here’s why. First, there is so much more access to information than we’ve ever had.

Like, in the last 10 years, the access to information on the internet, and social media and the willingness that people have to share their experience has increased exponentially, people are being more vocal about what ADHD actually looks like. And they’re dispelling stigma and myths. And so more just civilians are interacting with maybe social media posts or blog posts or podcasts, about the ways that ADHD manifests itself in adult life. And the fact that it’s not just for little white boys. And it’s not just a lack of attention. So this is Wonder fool just even think about since I recorded the episode on how to acquire an ADHD diagnosis from a couple years ago, the explosion of Instagram and Tiktok and all of the people who are now trending as ADHD, what influencers talking about the diagnosis and sharing, what does ADHD look like in adult life. And so that’s just been so, so wonderful. The stigma around mental health is also beginning to lessen or dissipate. And therefore people are more willing to talk about it, share their experience, share their diagnosis. And so as a society, I think we’re going in a good direction in terms of mental health. I know. I know, it’s not perfect, but the fact that the stigma is going down, it’s lessening that people are more willing to talk about it, that people are willing to hop on Tik Tok and share videos of themselves expressing what ADHD looks like as it manifests in adult life is huge. Because then, like I said, so when I say civilians, I mean like those out there in the world who do not have a diagnosis, they can begin to understand. And some of them are going to see themselves in those symptoms, right. Another thing that is making it easier is that the medical field is finally catching up with science. So it was once thought that ADHD was a childhood disorder, exclusively a childhood disorder and you need to understand that it wasn’t until the 1990s that doctors realized that most people, most children who were diagnosed with ADHD don’t grow out of it. Do you hear me? I wrote this in all caps.

Like, this is big. It wasn’t until the 1990s that doctors realized that most people don’t didn’t grow out of ADHD. And so it wasn’t really until the 1990s that adults were identified with ADHD. And now finally, 40 3040 years later, the medical field is catching up with that research, the medical field is realizing, oh, okay, I need to be on the lookout for ADHD symptoms in adults. Another reason why it’s becoming easier for people with ADHD to be diagnosed with ADHD is because we’re living in a post COVID era, meaning so much happens online, we are now able to be assessed online. And this is huge. We’re able to be assessed for mental health conditions, we’re able to get like our treatment appointments, we can talk to our doctors about our medication, and all of that can happen on line and listen, COVID was horrible. I would say the only good thing that perhaps came out of it was just more access to health care on line. Two big yay. It is getting easier for people with ADHD to be accurately assessed and treated for the disorder. I want you to feel encouraged by that. That’s my goal here. That’s the reason why I went through all of that is because if you’re listening, and you’re like, I want to get diagnosed, but I’m afraid. I think it’s going to be hard. I’ve heard horror stories. I want you to understand that like, the process can be difficult, but it is doable, and it is becoming easier and easier.

And again, I’m going to clarify this over and over, not easier and easier to fool doctors into diagnosing you quote unquote, not easier to get an inaccurate diagnosis, like somebody who does not have ADHD to be diagnosed so that they can get access to stimulants. No, no. What I am saying is that it is easier for people with ADHD to be accurately assessed and diagnosed with the disorder. There’s very good news. Okay. So if you’re listening, and you’re like, okay, great, good, good, good. But how does one go from undiagnosed to diagnosed? Like how do we how do we do it? So I’ve got some clear steps, some Varvara clear steps for you first, the first step is you need to do a little digging. And for some of you, that’s going to be like great, I love going down the rabbit hole, I’m going to do the research, I’m going to take the online test, I’m going to do the things and you’re going to feel really good about that. But if you are the type of person that’s like, I don’t want to do it, I’m overwhelmed or ready, please don’t give me more to do. I will, I will make this as simple as possible. But I want to sell you on this, you need to do a little bit of digging to see if your lived experience matches what we know about the ADHD symptoms.

And the reason that you need to do that is because most providers don’t know all that much about ADHD, especially adult ADHD. Clinicians are just humans. And it’s so important for me to say this because at least in America, we want to believe that physicians are kind of like all knowing God’s, they have all the answers. And they know everything inside and out. Like if you are a doctor, you know everything about mental health and physical health, but I promise that is not actually the case. They’re just humans. They’re just humans who have a varied amount of training on mental health conditions. Okay. So it is highly likely that your clinician has never had like a full class on ADHD, like one like one one hour class, it’s likely that they have not taken a class on ADHD. It is likely that they’ve never read a book on ADHD, let alone adult ADHD. It is likely that they learned about ADHD in conjunction with other mental health conditions. And not much quality time was spent learning the ins and outs of ADHD specifically, I want to stop and say, Are there clinicians out there who specialize in it? Who really know the ins and outs of it? Of course, is that the case for most physicians and clinicians and even psychiatrist? No, not necessarily. It’s very possible that your clinician might have an outdated understanding of ADHD, not because they’re bad at their job. Okay, not because they’re bad at the job, but because they’ve got a lot on their plate and they’re simply following current guidelines. And a lot of people in the medical field have just not really caught up to what the ADHD community knows about the disorder.

Okay, the community we were the ones that are having the lived experience and the medical field is always going to be a little bit behind that, and that’s okay. So I really want to encourage you to think in advance, it is very likely that my clinician is not going to have a robust understanding of ADHD. And that’s okay, I can begin to learn about it. And I can begin to figure out how my lived experience kind of matches the ADHD symptoms, and maybe perhaps where it doesn’t. The more that you know about ADHD and how your lived experience relates to ADHD symptoms, the better. Unless you already know this clinician and you fully trust that they have a deep, deep, deep knowledge on ADHD specifically, I wouldn’t rely on them to kind of lead the way in the knowledge on all things adult ADHD.

So first and foremost, it’s your job to really educate yourself on what are the ADHD symptoms? And how does my lived experience kind of manifests these symptoms, you can go to my website, I have adhd.com. And on there, I have a list of symptoms that you can print out. And what I always recommend that people do is circle, the ones that you resonate with, and jot down literally write on the piece of paper. You know, I see this in my life in XYZ, so maybe it’s impulsivity. Maybe you interrupt people a lot. Okay. What does that look like? When’s the last time you did that? Maybe you make rash decisions. list a couple examples of that. Maybe you resonate with distractibility. And so you struggle to ignore irrelevant noises? Well, when’s the last time that happened? And how does that affect your life? Maybe you are time blind, and maybe you struggle with time management. Okay, how does that resonate with you? How do you see that playing out in your life, the more real life examples that you can give based on these symptoms, the more accurately somebody can assess you.

Another way that you can get some good insight is by taking the A s r s five, the A S RS five is an amazing resource. We’re gonna put all of the links in the show notes. So if you’re like, wait, what, just go to the show notes, click on it, we’ll have it there for you. It’s a great six question ADHD test. It’s only six questions, but it is well respected and well recognized. And it is a really good predictor of whether or not somebody might acquire an ADHD diagnosis. So if you score 14 or less on the A S RS five, it is unlikely that you have adult ADHD. If you score 14 or higher on the A S RS five, it is likely that you will be diagnosed with ADHD. It is a widely accepted assessment and has concrete examples of symptoms. So it might give you language and words for what you’re experiencing in your real life. And I just want to give a plug for this, actually, this entire website, embrace autism.com.

That’s where the ASRS five is located. And the entire website is amazing, I highly recommend that you check it out. There’s a lot of other diagnostic tests on there, that will help you to see whether or not maybe it would be worthwhile to be evaluated by a clinician. It’s autistic, owned and operated. They hire neurodivergent people, everything is presented through the lens of differences, not deficits. It’s really inclusive and affirming and is designed by and for nor divergent people. So that’s embrace autism.com. I highly, highly recommend we’ll put the link in the show notes. All of that being said, I do want to give you a word of caution, which is it will not go well for you. If you walk into the diagnostic appointment or the initial appointment and say I have ADHD, I would like you to give me a diagnosis for ADHD. That’s not going to go over well. Okay, so it’s okay. If you are learning about ADHD, if you are checking to see what symptoms resonate with you, you’re checking your lived experience and how they match ADHD symptoms. And it’s okay to say, Hey, I’ve been doing some research, I really think that ADHD might be an issue for me, would you please evaluate me? That’s the thing to say. We don’t want to go in and bulldoze or demand a diagnosis that’s not going to go well for us. It is not going to go well for us. And it’s really important to understand that a good clinician is going to be assessing for other things as well. Right, so maybe it’s not ADHD, maybe it’s OCD, maybe it’s BPD. We don’t know, we are not the clinician, but what you can do is gather as much information, get as knowledgeable as possible as you can on ADHD, and then see what happens with the clinician. Another thing that you’re going to want to quote unquote arm yourself with is memories from your childhood.

So one of the things that’s very frustrating about acquiring an ADHD diagnosis as an adult, is there have to be presentations of ADHD in your childhood in order to get a diagnosis as an adult. This can be so difficult because Hello, people with ADHD struggle with working memory, we struggle with memory in general, we’re gonna struggle to remember the specifics of our childhood. And I think we blocked a lot out because it was traumatic. Like if you grew up undiagnosed ADHD in a neurotypical world, that’s a traumatic experience. And so a lot of us have blocked a lot of memories as well. So yes, ADHD plays a part in that, but also, like, just self protection plays a part in that. So if you have a safe relationship with your parents, or your siblings or your childhood friends, try to just have a conversation with them about like, what was it like, with me as a kid? What was I like, as a kid? What feedback did my teachers give? And try to look for comments like, Oh, your teachers were always saying, like, if you could just pay attention, you would do really well, or your teachers were always saying, if you would just apply yourself, you would, you’d get really good grades, things that were said about me was exactly that. If only Kristin would apply herself, she’s so smart, she has so much potential. So asking your parents or siblings or childhood friends to help you remember, can be really important. So jot down some of those stories and memories from your childhood. Things like I missed the bus a lot, you know, I couldn’t like Get it together to get out the door on time. That was a personal example, I missed the bus all the time. Things like struggling socially or having trouble keeping friends.

Or maybe you were talking way too much in class, that’s one of the symptoms in girls is that they just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. So you’re talking too much in class, or maybe you’re the class clown, or maybe you zoned out in class, and you were never paying attention, you struggled to make friends. Or like me, maybe you asked to go to the bathroom and classes that you hated. And you just roamed the hallways, because you could not handle the internal agitation of sitting in that class. Anyone else? Anyone else? Okay, just a warning here, take very good care of yourself. Because this may bring up emotions for your parents, really consider if they are safe to talk to you about this and just see like, what is their reaction, like they might want to gloss things over. Because they might not want to feel like they missed something. The experience of a parent can be really intense. When a parent is confronted with like, Hey, I think I have this disorder, I’m looking for a diagnosis. And then depending on the emotional maturity of your parent, they may say Don’t say that, that means that I missed something, that means that there’s something wrong with me.

So just a disclaimer here to be really gentle with yourself. And to prioritize your own safety. Maybe you don’t want to talk to your parents about this. And that’s okay. You might be tempted to not even make an appointment. Because you might think, Okay, I’ve got all this research to do, I need to print the symptoms, I need to take the ASRS five, I need to write down my childhood memories. And so you might think to yourself, once I do all of that I will make an appointment. And here’s what I want to say, for your brain. If you do have ADHD, it will be so much better for you if you just go ahead and make that appointment and use the deadline of the appointment as the deadline for jotting down all of this info. Does that make sense? So don’t wait until everything is perfect. And so you have this like stack of them pile of papers of all of your notes to say okay, now I can finally make the appointment because I highly doubt that that day will ever come. What I want you to do instead is say I believe that I might have ADHD I would like to be assessed for it. I’m going to make the appointment and that appointment will give me the deadline which will create Ah, the urgency for me to actually do the research. Does that make sense? Are you tracking with me, so don’t be perfectionistic.

That’s perfectionism. Perfectionism says, I can’t make the appointment until I have all of this research done. But living in reality and understanding how your brain works, it’s so much better to say, I’m going to make the appointment. And then I’ll use the urgency of the deadline of the appointment to get this stuff done, and it’s not going to be perfect. I’m just going to smash it all together, I’ll probably do it in the waiting room of the appointment. And that’s fine. Okay, so how do you go for a screening? How do we even get evaluated for ADHD? If you like and trust your family? Doctor, that’s a great place to start. Start there, you can say, Hey, I’ve been researching ADHD, I really relate to a lot of the symptoms, how do you suggest that I get evaluated for it? Is that something that you are willing to do? All physicians are able to assess and diagnose for ADHD, they’re quote unquote, allowed to in the US. Not all of them are willing or feel like they are qualified to do that. And so some physicians will refer you out to perhaps a psychologist or a psychiatrist for a diagnostic appointment. Honestly, I respect that. If a physician does not feel that they have the knowledge to walk you through a diagnostic screening, I completely respect them referring you out. Like I said, it is unfair, that we expect all physicians to know everything about every physical and mental health condition that is not really fair. And so I am always respecting physicians who refer out. But I think if you like and you trust your family, doctor, that’s a really great place to start.

Again, you can say, Hey, I’ve been researching ADHD, I really relate to a lot of the symptoms. I’d like to be evaluated. How do you suggest I do that? Is that something that you’re willing to evaluate me for? Or do you prefer that I go see someone else? And if so, who do you recommend? Now, another option is if you have any adult friends in your area who’ve been diagnosed, ask them who evaluated them. That’s a great way to learn who’s knowledgeable in adult ADHD and willing to evaluate for it. Everyone in my area, everyone in my real life, who texts me and says, Hey, you know, so and so is looking for an ADHD value evaluation, who do you recommend? I always recommend this one woman. I think she’s been really fair and kind. And in her assessments, I think she’s been really accurate. And so I always refer her so if you know people with adult ADHD in your area, ask them, you can call around to your local, you know, psychiatrist, psychologist, they will be able to offer evaluations, whether or not they’re willing to I don’t know, but those types of places, mental health centers, they are able to offer evaluations. And, and in the end, this is where it gets exciting because there are online options now for ADHD diagnosis, everyone share this is so fun. This is so good. This is a good thing. Not a bad thing.

This is so so so wonderful. So I’m going to give you a couple of these options. And we’ll just discuss them really briefly and I’ll also put the links in the show notes for you. So the first one is called done first.com. Done first.com. From what I can tell about done first from reading their website is that they have the ability to diagnose you and treat you long term for ADHD. They take insurance, it is a monthly membership fee. So it’s 199 for the first month and then $79 A month after that. What it says here is video consultation and unlimited online communications, personalized treatment plan eligible insurance coverage, easy automatic refill, worryfree ongoing care 24/7 support. So that doesn’t sound like it sucks. That sounds pretty great. Alright, the next one that I’m going to mention is called circle medical.com. And these were all referred to me from people in my community who have gone through these websites for a diagnosis. Circle medical says accessible primary care over video and in person, same and next day availabilities in network with most PPO over 1 million video appointments held prescriptions when clinically appropriate, and they take all types of insurance as well which is lovely ADHD Online is another resource. And it looks like you take an assessment, and then you meet with a clinician and create a treatment plan. And then you have ongoing care through their platform. Those are the three for the US that came up the most when I asked where people had been diagnosed that they had used an online platform. So it’s done first.com Circle medical.com, or ADHD online.com. So those are the three ones in the US that I can vouch for, as far as people that are in my community have used these different online platforms.

If you are in Canada, there is a website called talk with Frieda talk with frida.com. What their website says is get an adult ADHD diagnosis in days, not months. And so this is for my Canadian listeners, which I know there’s a lot of you. And so you can go to talk with Frida, fr ID a.com and get some info about that. While I’m on the subject of my dear Canadian listeners love you all I want to plug kodak.ca. So that’s C, add ac.ca. We’re going to link it in the show notes. So don’t worry about it. But that’s a great online resource for ADHD, and getting information, Canadian based information on ADHD. What’s also amazing about living in this post COVID era is that if you would like to be seen by a psychologist or a psychiatrist who is not in your state, that is possible. Now, that is so amazing. It’s so great. So the psi pact license PSYP AC T the psi pact license allows clinicians to work across state lines in the US, I am going to put this link in the show notes. It’s the psi pact.org. Map. And what it does is it shows what states participate in the psi pact, I don’t know licensed participation. So the participating states there’s most of the states are participating, which means if you google and find a clinician that you love, and they have a sai PAC license, they can see you across state lines. So if you go to, for example, Psychology Today, and you look for ADHD assessment, and you find someone there that you’re like, oh, this person would be a really good fit. They can work across state lines if they have a CPAC license and if your state participates. So that is such good news. It has never been this accessible for adults with ADHD to receive an ADHD diagnosis.

It has never been this accessible for adults with ADHD to receive treatment and care for ADHD. And I want to encourage you with that, I want to encourage you, this is wonderful, let us all cheer from the mountaintops. This is so wonderful because we deserve care. Our community deserves care. And I want you to truly understand that there is a discrepancy between the number of children and the number of adults diagnosed with ADHD. And we want to close that gap. There are different numbers in different places, but about 5% of children are diagnosed and about 2.5% of adults are diagnosed. And it should be the same. It should be the same number. And so what we’re doing now with all of these recent adult ADHD diagnoses is that we’re closing the gap. And we’re and we’re making it so just as many adults are diagnosed as children because the number should be the same. This is not something that we grow out of. And so this is what I said at the beginning, we’re like we finally understand that this is an adult disorder, as well that children do not grow out of it. And so what’s happening now is that we are finally catching up, we’re finally catching up. And so the reason that so many people are being diagnosed as adults now is because they were missed as kids, and they deserved a diagnosis or they were diagnosed as a child, but their parents told them like you’ll grow out of it.

This is not a big deal. And so they never took it seriously as an adult. Okay, and so now we have the opportunity to do that. I just want to encourage you it has never been easier. If you are denied a diagnosis. If you go in and your clinician is like no, you don’t have ADHD. I want you to think through and talk to them and say okay, well I am having symptoms that are affecting my life. So if it’s not ADHD, what is it? I need a solution. Because my life does not feel calm and grounded and methodical, and I don’t feel like I’m reaching my potential. And so if it’s not ADHD, then what is going on? So that’s step number one. Step number two is you’re always entitled to get a second opinion. Always, if you do not feel seen, if you do not feel heard, if you do not feel validated, if you do not feel listened to. And even if you do, but the outcome just really doesn’t sit well with you, you’re entitled to get another opinion, that’s no problem. That’s not asking too much. It’s not being too much. It’s just taking care of yourself and making sure that all of your bases are covered. And it’s okay to say, Hey, I was evaluated for ADHD. And the clinician said that they did not feel as though I presented enough symptoms. And I don’t understand why. And I would like a second opinion, that is a very reasonable thing to say.

Not that you’re demanding a diagnosis, but that you do have questions. Hey, there’s something going on here. Why am I not being diagnosed with something because my life is being affected. I do want to encourage you, it’s never been more accessible than it is right now. So take advantage of that. Do the hard work, go for the evaluation. It matters. It’s so important. I believe in you. I am cheering for you. And I will talk to you next week.

If you’re being treated for your ADHD, but you still don’t feel like you’re reaching your potential you’ve got to join focused. It’s my monthly coaching membership where I teach you how to tame your wild thoughts and create the life that you’ve always wanted. No matter what season of life you’re in, or where you are in the world focused is for you. All materials and call recordings are stored in the site for you to access at your convenience. Go to Ihaveadhd.com/focused for all the info.