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Tell HN: Get yourself checked for ADHD, depression, etc.

7 points by squeegee_scream ↗ HN
In the previous 2 years I've discovered I've had a slew of diagnoses for most or all of my life. I didn't realize these things because I had systems in place to cope. Through recent conversations with people who were diagnosed years ago, I realized I had many similarities with them. This was more impactful than reading a list of symptoms because somehow I can convince myself that my symptoms aren't as bad, but I can ask clarifying questions from people who have these diagnoses. I think that's because of the systems I had in place to cope. But if I look at the symptoms, and take the questionnaires, assuming my systems are not in place, then it becomes glaring obvious.

I'm not sure what heuristic to apply to decide if you should get tested. If I traveled back in time 4 years to convince myself I had these issues I probably would've asked, "is your physical, emotional, and mental health _perfect_? Think deeply about the ways and places that it isn't, and talk to a licensed professional about them. Assume you have diagnoses until proven otherwise." But of course I'm not a licensed professional so I have no idea if that's a good way to look at it for others. It works for me though.

## Questionnaires

This is not an exhaustive list of course. If you think you may have X, you can probably find the official questionnaire online.

1. Depression: https://patient.info/doctor/patient-health-questionnaire-phq-9

2. ADHD: https://add.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/adhd-questionnaire-ASRS111.pdf

3. Anxiety: https://adaa.org/screening-generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad

5 comments

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ilaksh
For me, this is not a realistic viewpoint. I'm just trying to scrape by, and have been dealing with chronic health issues for most of my life. The biggest issue I had a surgery for when I briefly had subsidized health insurance. It seemed to help a little bit but didn't resolve the issue, and the supposedly better surgery was not available with the subsidized health insurance. Also, some of the healthcare people basically treated me like a homeless person or complete charity case when they found out that I was on a subsidized plan.

So I have just been dealing with it without health insurance, and the plan is to someday have a business that can support my health insurance and other costs I need to have a "real" life. Whether that will actually ever happen by the time I get to retirement age is uncertain.

But of course I am at least a bit depressed and anxious. The solution to that for me is to not be so broke and to improve my physical health which also is somewhat dependent on being able to afford healthcare.

oatmeal1
I don't doubt at all that your conditions are very challenging, and much more challenging than other people's. That being said, are there strategies where you can develop an exceptional mind that is capable of being happy despite these challenges?

Perhaps meditation or psilocybin would be helpful. For some people they are transformative. Just a thought.

oatmeal1
It's kind of stunning mental health screening is not part of your annual checkup.
camdenlock
“Get yourself permanently inducted into the medical & pharmaceutical pipeline.”

No thanks.

annie_muss
> I didn't realize these things because I had systems in place to cope.

This really resonates with me.

Before I was diagnosed with ADHD I considered myself a basically functioning adult. I read about symptoms like being overly sensitive and thought "Hah, that's not me, I have a clever system to get around that". Both for small everyday things like wearing clothes ("I'll just wear them inside out/cut out all the labels to avoid the annoying sensation") and bigger things like the inability to keep a job ("I'll pick up some freelance work. It's normal to be in and out of work in the fast paced world of startups").

Looking back, these were all clear signs of my ADHD. I was in my 30s when I was diagnosed. I wish I had noticed sooner, but I was so good at hiding it no one noticed. I didn't even notice myself.