how do I get my therapist to realize its both adult ADHD & PTSD (quit, medication)

[8kitties]

I am a 47 year old mother of 4. I have been treated for PTSD for years. Both of my sons were diagnosed with ADHD very young (they are now 18 & 30) and still take medication today. For a few years now I have known I have every symptom there is for ADHD and it explains so much in my life: bad abusive marriage/divorce, subsequent relationship issues, serious procrastination issues, late to everything, mood swings and outbursts, no motivation at all, not social at all, no desire to do anything including cooking-cleaning-shopping, etc. and much more. My therapist claims people are often misdiagnosed with ADHD actually being PTSD.

I explained I was treated for ADHD a few years back and did so much better with the adderal, but she wants me to try "Grounding" first, which can take years to see results from if any all. How do I get her to understand!!!

[Just A Guy]

There is a reason she is the professional and you are not. Self-diagnosis is not generally a good idea.

[Ottawa2011]

Adderall might help ADHD, but wouldn't an amphetamine like that make anxiety symptoms of PTSD worse? If you take anti-anxiety meds for PTSD, Adderall might conflict with those. Also, you just might not have ADHD... far better to get a professional opinion.

[cindersslipper]

You need another therapist.

I saw a forensic psych for years and she never once diagnosed BPD.

Then I was diagnosed in January and once again since.

Someone on one of my threads accused me of doctor dodging or something, its not, its the Public Health System. They toss you about from one to the other.

End result - at least you know a good psych when you visit one. You know bad ones too, theyre usually drug happy.

[HighFlyingBird]

Originally Posted by cindersslipper

You need another therapist.

I saw a forensic psych for years and she never once diagnosed BPD.

Then I was diagnosed in January and once again since.

Someone on one of my threads accused me of doctor dodging or something, its not, its the Public Health System. They toss you about from one to the other.

End result - at least you know a good psych when you visit one. You know bad ones too, theyre usually drug happy.

Some therapists don't disclose BPD to their bpd clients because of the stigma and resistance. It also might be used as an excuse for bad behavior "that was just my BPD" which is a common defense in those with BPD, to not be able to take responsibility.

More and more therapists are disclosing, but there are still some who don't to try to keep the client in therapy and working. My therapist would disclose it (I don't have it, but my mom does so we talked about it a good bit) but she said the extreme majority would storm out or stick around a short time and just act out. The very few who stayed were ones she thought she could help.

So it might have been for a reason other then not knowing it that the doc didn't tell you.

[cam1957]

I think you may need to find another therapist if they're telling you the treatment is going to take years. The just want your money.

I went to two different therapists over a four year period and they both denied I could have PTSD. They were wrong! I did have it and just ended 6 months of counseling and felt better within a month with this therapist than I did in four years with two that denied I could have it.

I'll know in the future to change within a couple of months if no positive outcome is coming from their treatment.

[Ottawa2011]

Originally Posted by cam1957

I think you may need to find another therapist if they're telling you the treatment is going to take years. The just want your money.

I went to two different therapists over a four year period and they both denied I could have PTSD. They were wrong! I did have it and just ended 6 months of counseling and felt better within a month with this therapist than I did in four years with two that denied I could have it.

I'll know in the future to change within a couple of months if no positive outcome is coming from their treatment.

Isn't it true that PTSD can have different severities, depending upon the person, and their experiences? There are people who have access to the best doctors, who spend years dealing with recurring PTSD symptoms.

[cam1957]

Originally Posted by Ottawa2011

Isn't it true that PTSD can have different severities, depending upon the person, and their experiences? There are people who have access to the best doctors, who spend years dealing with recurring PTSD symptoms.

Yes there are. Many people (and my two therapists were in that group) believe that only Vets and someone in a tragic accident or violent situation are the only forms of PTSD.

In my situation with the first therapist I was seeing for grief of the death of my son, something happened and my grief was taken away and replaced with anger, disgust, humiliation, not sleeping and a host of other symptoms that didn't allow to me accept and move on. Without cross-posting, she told me one day that she filled out paperwork for a complaint I filed against my employer that grief and workplace bullying were the same symptoms. I never went back to her after that statement.

The new counselor I went to also denied I could have it, so I quit going to her because she wasn't able to help me deal with or get over my dilemma after two years. I even gave the people websites of professionals regarding the subject and they chose not to educate themselves in their field of practice.

I went to see her because I was having a meltdown regarding memories of sexual molestation and r*ape at the ages of 7 & 8. I never told anyone. She chose to put me on different meds and allow me to continue in that broken down state for over a month before my next appointment with her. I called the local r*pe hotline for a referral because I thought I was too old to go there for something that happened 50 years ago. I wasn't too old to be treated.

I had to attend four workshops before my counseling started and one was on PTSD, which I chose to attend twice. I asked the speakers if workplace bullying could cause it and they both said most definitely. Many older people like me are being counseled because we kept our mouths shut.

My PC doc diagnosed me with it over the sexual abuse as a child. I had the best parents in the world, but back then, you didn't talk about things like that. Those pigs that did that to me screwed up my coping abilities and I lived my life without a backbone and have taken different forms of abuse since I left my parents house at 18.

Something else arose during my time in counseling for which I thought I handled on my own 30 years ago. I actually was counseled for four different PTSD incidents throughout my life. All of those incidents were handled and I was given the tools to cope with and somewhat control triggers for them in 6 months.

Therapists should have to go for continuing education in order to keep up with their licenses as other health care professionals have to do. Just because they have letters after their name for their degrees, doesn't mean they're good at what they do.

People need to take control of our mental health and not believe every word that comes out of a so-called professionals mouth when their treatment isn't helping us. It's our money and the insurance company's money that's paying these people to be ignorant in their field.

I understand there's people that will need lifetime counseling for their diagnosis.

If anyone goes for counseling for an event and you're not feeling better within a couple of months, find a new counselor that knows what they're doing and not milking you and your insurance company by keeping you stuck in a dark hole.

I'll forever be grateful for my last counselor and the educators there that pulled me out of the darkness I had known for four years. This counseling and help didn't cost me a penny.

[Curvi]

Originally Posted by 8kitties

How do I get her to understand!!!

Ask for an IQ Test.

They have found that people with ADHD have a discrepancy between verbal IQ score and performance IQ score