This is not a post trying to alarm you, but it is something that reality may throw at you that will hit hard.
I had vaguely brought up the possibility of neurodivergence to a psych, and they told me: “Okay so you probably are, but I’m not going to diagnose you because it’ll make it more difficult for you to get care / to be medically taken seriously.”
Was recently talking online to a friend who was diagnosed at 14, and both their parent & their psych agreed not to add it to my medical records because it could “ruin [their] life.”
I have been seeking out help with my issues all my life, and have one current diagnosis (ADHD-PI) that is so severe that I nearly destroyed my life several times when I was off meds. I am not “seeking” an autism diagnosis, but I’d love to have helpful resources.
Let me be clear: doctors already dismiss my ADHD diagnosis or straight-up let me know that “you probably don’t have ADHD” in so many words. I have yet to be taken seriously regarding it, and it has harmed me immensely and put me off from seeking therapy or support for it.
Autism? Holy shit, forget it. Not a single medical professional I’ve seen wants to even touch that.
This feels like fucking “Nightmare Mode”. Mask until you die. Ultimate stigma.
Why is it near impossible to find help with adult ADHD / autism / other neurodivergent diagnosis? What the fuck is going on? And, more importantly, what can we do about this?
You absolutely should seek help when you feel like something is off. I feel like the recognition of ADHD is very location and provider dependent and it might be you live in a place where it’s harder to have that diagnosis taken seriously. There might still be some relaxed guidelines from COVID that allows telehealth doctors to diagnose and treat ADHD so that might be another option. It really sucks to not have supportive doctors and I’m sorry you’re going through that. As long as you have the diagnosis, your insurance should still pay for meds/counseling/treatment, so there’s that.
Also, there can be a lot of overlap between ADHD and autism, so for practical purposes there might not be much use in getting an official diagnosis for autism. Doctors view a diagnosis as a first step towards treatment and if a new diagnosis wouldn’t change the treatment plan, they might not deem it as very valuable. Which might make you feel like you’re not being listened to or that your issues aren’t getting addressed or recognized. Please don’t let this prevent you from seeking therapy. Therapy is pretty open-ended and if you find a good therapist, they can gear it to your actual issues you’re facing no matter the official diagnosis. It sounds like you could use more people who have your back.