Videos ADHD Health Clinic

How To Get An ADHD Diagnosis

Description:

Embarking on the journey to an ADHD diagnosis can be a complex and confusing process. In our video we aim to demystify this process and provide you with a step-by-step guide on what to expect and how to proceed. If you've ever felt like you're constantly hitting a wall with forgetfulness and other symptoms that may point to ADHD, this video is the resource you've been looking for. We walk you through the initial stages of self-recognition and the importance of resonating with the symptoms of ADHD. With the plethora of information available online, we clarify how to navigate through it and take the first steps towards a formal diagnosis. We introduce you to the concept of online screening tests, explaining how they can be a valuable tool in determining whether you should seek a full assessment. These tests, while not diagnostic tools, can provide strong indicators of ADHD and are often the first step in the diagnostic journey. Once you have a sense of your symptoms, we outline the pathways to obtaining a diagnosis, whether through private consultation or via referral from your general practitioner to a specialist service. We explain the comprehensive assessment process used by our consultant psychiatrist Dr Shyamal Mashru, which includes pre-assessment forms, evaluations for co-occurring conditions such as anxiety, depression, and autism, and understanding the impact of symptoms on your daily functioning. We highlight the importance of an Informant report, which involves those close to you providing insights into your childhood and current symptoms, offering a more holistic view for the assessing psychiatrist. After the assessment, we don't just leave you with a diagnosis. We discuss the importance of a general psychiatric history to screen for other conditions and to ensure a thorough understanding of your mental health. This comprehensive approach ensures that your diagnosis of ADHD, should you receive one, is informed and accurate. We hope our video can guide you through each step, from suspecting you might have ADHD, to screening, assessment, and beyond. Our goal is to provide clarity and support for those seeking answers and to pave the way for better management and treatment of ADHD. For more information visit: https://adhdhealthclinic.co.uk/video-article/how-to-get-an-adhd-diagnosis-your-step-by-step-guide/ Original video recording courtesy of Dr. Lalitaa Suglani / Therapised With Dr Lalitaa (Episode 8) VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Dr. Lalitaa Suglani (LS): But then I suppose ok I feel like I've got to this, I've hit this brick wall I keep seeing the same things happening, I'm forgetting things, and someone's mentioned to me that I think you may have ADHD. So, I am now looking into getting a diagnosis. How or what do I do, and what do I do now? Dr Shyamal Mashru (SM): Okay, so if you're looking to get a diagnosis, well first of all you might want to understand what are the symptoms exactly look like and do you resonate with them. LS: So how do I do that? There's so much information on the internet. SM: There is. LS: So how do I do that? So, on my website I have an online screening test there, so it's a simple screening test, it's a tick box. LS: So what is a screening test? SM: So a screening test doesn't give you a diagnosis, but it it asks you certain questions, where if you score highly for, meaning you've ticked often or very often for example in terms of your experience of those symptoms would give you an indicator whether you should actually go for a formal ADHD assessment. And that screening test that I use on my website is quite a well-known screening tool that's used. So, it's not something that I've just come up with myself. So, if you do screen for positive for showing that you might have symptoms suggestive of ADHD you should have a thorough assessment. You can then book online on that website for an assessment with myself. So, in a nutshell, you can go in directly and see a psychiatrist privately for a diagnostic assessment, if you're going through the NHS you have to speak with your GP and your GP would refer you to your local NHS ADHD service. LS: Okay, so say if I've got, I've had the referral and I'm sitting in front of someone and they are now diagnosing me, what's the process? What is the process of diagnosis? SM: The typical process that I use for example, and this is fairly commonly used among psychiatrist, is I would send you some pre-assessment forms initially. So a few of those forms would be forms that you have to fill out yourself, one of those forms will be a list of potential ADHD symptoms and I would score those, one of those forms would be anxiety and depression scales, because we do, as I said, commonly see anxiety and depression ADHD, so I'd want to know if you're suffering from that and if so how high or how severe is that because it gives me an idea of what I'm managing when I see you... /continues.