They wouldn’t remember anything anyway, there’s not point.

I mean… I read the relevant parts of the DSM V if that counts?

I took two roughly a year ago. The first one was in a run down office. I came to fill out forms and do a written assessment. Then I came back and did a test with an aged beige box computer, very simple but I know I did poorly. Then I had an assessment of math, verbal, etc with a live person. I was called back a week later and answered more questions. I was told I couldn’t have ADD because my job was too demanding for a person with ADD to handle. My coworker was in the car and I did the whole thing on speakerphone because he is a good friend and I’m serious about being open and honest when it comes to mental health. I thought it was ridiculous and my friend agreed.

Then I looked online and found a service (you can DM me if you want the name) that could do an online assessment if you have a laptop or desktop with a camera. I filled out all my forms online and submitted them before initial assessment video call. It was clear that the psychiatrist had read what I wrote. I then took a test on my laptop, very simple still but made me realize how out of date the test on my first attempt was.

I had another video appointment a week later. My psychiatrist actually has ADHD herself. She said the computer test graded me at top 7% severity. I told her about my other mental illness issues and, this is very important, I told her how so much of my childhood would make sense if I had ADD. It is important to talk about childhood symptoms, because ADD is a lifelong neurodivergence, not an illness.

She diagnosed me with ADD. We tried Vyvanse, it’s slow release so I thought it would be better. It put me to sleep. I now take Adderall so I can fit into a box and be a normal productive member of society for about 10 or 12 hours. I still have serious executive dysfunction without an immediate deadline looming or some other exterior pressure. It’s better than it was though, that’s for sure.

This was my experience in WV, USA

Good Luck

First you have to fill in a load of questionnaires about life and childhood and symptoms and whatever else, and get someone who knew you as a child to do one (I got my dad to), and someone who knows you now (my partner). The forms aren’t difficult per se, but they do involve dredging through memories and take a couple of hours (sop I put them off for a week).

Then you speak to a psychiatrist for… well they told me it would be 45 minutes but I got distracted a few times and it took an hour and a half. That was today, he confirmed that I do have adhd, specifically attention deficit presentation rather than hyperactivity, which is exactly . what Io expected him to say.

Next comes titration onto medication, and/or whatever other treatment options you go for. I’ve got for primarily medication because the other major option is CBT, and while that’s often really good (so long as you have a competent practitioner teaching you - I have heard horror stories), I have done that before for pain so know what the techniques would be.

The NHS waiting list is seven years so I went private. All in all it’s likely to cost me about £1000, and then fifty quid a year to check up on the prescription and make sure it’s still right.