[DaftDank]

> I am pretty sure if I went straight to a psychiatrist instead of investing into long term therapy with a psychologist (that eventually suspected me having ADHD), I would have probably been given an SSRI and sent on my way.

That's probably true, but a lot of hospitals try to push this dynamic onto doctors/psychiatrists. When my dad (was psychiatrist for 43 years) took a job as medical director at a hospital in Wyoming, they told him when he first got there that they only wanted his role to be prescribing medication, and that they would have psychologists evaluate the patient first, and then determine what medication is needed and then his job would be to write them. I assume the previous psychiatrist was fine with this (he was an unusual guy in general but that's another story), but my dad told them he would not operate this way.

But at the end of the day, the "roles" usually end up being the therapists and psychologists doing the more therapy-focused work, while the psychiatrist makes diagnoses and determinations of which medications may work, and prescribes them because of his M.D.

My brother has been bipolar his whole life, major depressive for large parts of it as well, and generally has had a rough time with mental health. It's taken both medication and life-long therapy to get him to a sort of manageable/live-able baseline.

[symlinkk]

Lol, it seems like everyone on this website has “ADHD” and “needs” a daily supply of amphetamine just to function.

I think the reality is that everyone benefits from amphetamines whether they have ADHD or not, so working backwards, if you feel better on Adderall, that doesn’t mean you have ADHD.

[Apocryphon]

Haven't there been studies that people without ADHD do not benefit from amphetamines? Not to mention, there are meds that aren't amphetamine- Ritalin isn't one!

[amanaplanacanal]

Not sure how you got that from what they wrote. They said their psychologist suspected ADHD based on their symptoms and then prescribed medication for it.

[LocalH]

This is not a good faith comment