My school's protocol for ADHD screening
 

Ranting time. Just a little annoyed about this. This is what my school forces you to go through before referring you to a physician:

1. Two group sessions, an hour each
2. Previous record, if possible
3. Mandatory reading (pick one), read and define your characteristics
   • You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Crazy, or Stupid?! (I hate this title so much)
   • Healing ADD (Amazon reviews make this book seem sort of pseudosciency)
   • Making the Grade with ADD: a Student's Guide to Succeeding in College with ADD
4. Baseline testing, if you are at risk of ADHD
5. Two followup sessions with a counselor
6. Referral to a physician, if applicable

Should I be finding this so annoying? Seems like an unnecessarily drawn out process. Am a bit frustrated. Is my school operating on the assumption that most people coming in are seeking drugs?

Well, ADHD is a real disorder that's not to be diagnosed lightly. At the same time, the process itself looks a little off.

Yes.

I have ADD (well, duh) but have not gone to a doctor about it. My view is that it's no one else's business but my own, and that the first step to conquering it is to make it my problem and my problem alone.

But the real problem I see with your school's screening is that it looks boring, and y'know what people with ADD/ADHD aren't good at paying attention to and doing?

Why are you doing this through your college? Like, really, couldn't you just go directly to your family doctor and get a referral from there? :raise:

I am using my school's insurance. I tried for a month to so to find someone on the plan who would help me, but they either wanted referrals or didn't do screenings.

So I went to Student Health Services looking for a referral to a doctor. They directed me to Counseling and Testing. So now I'm going through this Protocol thing. http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/2383368/.../emot-geno.gif

Given what I've seen regarding how some people handle ADHD, better to be too strenuous than not enough.

I've never gone through my College or to a doctor/physician for help dealing with my ADD. And I have to say that lately I've been making progress towards getting past it. (despite my laughable struggles through a community college and later a university)

To all the people who say they have ADD and who also say they haven't been to a doctor about it: are you sure you have ADD? Because self-diagnoses suck. To the point where you probably shouldn't say in earnest that you have ADD/ADHD.

I mean, I think I might have ADD, but I could also have poor discipline and work skills. I have no experience or authority to claim that I actually have ADD, and for me to do so would marginalize people who do have ADD, and are on several medications to control their symptoms.

I'm sorry if this comes across the wrong way, but this is a bit of a peeve of mine. I've seen a goodly number of kids come into my care who claim they have ADD/Aspergers/whatever, and then it turns out they've never seen a doctor about it and they're using it as a crutch and grragh.

I was diagnosed during my senior year in high school. My counselor had called me down to pick up some paper work based on my school records and tests through out most of my life. She informed me of the New Jersey Department of Rehabilitation (something like that their cooperate initial is NJ D.V.R). While she didn't tell me I had ADD, it was stated in my paper work that apparently I did... and was never informed till that very moment. Granted I did graduate from High School with out ever being held back once (barely). College... didn't go over so well.

Yeah those mental breakdowns that use to happen every few months because of knowing this didn't help either.

See, it's stuff like this that makes me a) hate bureaucracy, and b) get annoyed when people self-diagnose. Kudos for trying to manage it without meds, and good luck with school! :D

But, without self-diagnosis, college Psychology programs would only have people who've dropped out of other, more strenuous majors. We need those guys looking to self-diagnose, Eltargrim.

Have I mentioned how much I hate being a Psych major here? I don't think I have.

Trust me youll hate it more when you try to get work. Got a friend who works at the Bureau of Statisitcs, apparently a fair chunk of their lowest pay grade are disillusioned psych majors who got hired for their stats skills due to not being able to find any work with their psych skills. Apparently that's what happens to most psych majors.

Also guess I was kinda lucky, got diagonsed with ADD and put on meds in primary school, weaned off them in high school and have been mostly fine through university. Had a good doc and most of my primary school teachers were supportive.

I wholeheartedly agree, especially when it's something like ADD/ADHD which has some symptoms that are similar to other disorders up to and including sleep deprivation.

Viridis, I would strongly recommend that you see a psychologist before you see a physician. Most physicians are not qualified, even though they are capable, to diagnose psychological disorders. Also, even if you are ADHD you may not need medication.

I'm already hating it and I'm still in graduate school.

I'm curious as to how you could be diagnosed without knowing about it. Unless it was done improperly, the DSM has an interview checklist that's supposed to be gone through. Unfortunately, it's used less often than it should be by psychologists, and most other people who can diagnose it have never heard about it.