May 17, 2023, 01:56

Wed, 17 May 2023 01:56:16 +0000
nhs, adhd

Still in disbelief over that ridiculous BBC article. "Doctors will make diagnoses based on what you tell them!" Yes, that's how it works. Unfortunately, not everything can be directly ID'ed from a microscope slide like microbes. So doctors put together a picture based on your symptoms, and when the symptoms are things you experience, whether those be physical sensations like pain and nausea or mental ones, you are a key part of providing that information. Different inputs will lead to different conclusions.

But does that mean the provider makes no difference? Of course not-- you only hear what you're receptive to hearing. I've been going to mental health professionals since I was a kid, and one in particular stands out even though I only saw her twice, a few years ago. She talked down to me from the beginning, openly discarded much of what I said, with dismissive comments like "kids don't notice things like that!" and basically treated me like I was completely wasting her time. It didn't occur to me until much later, running over and over what went so wrong and what I could have said, that she was basically assuming I was a drug-seeker. A lot of people, even professionals, don't really believe in adult #ADHD diagnoses from people who are holding down a job and staying out of jail and other conspicuous crisis outcomes.

So, especially in an institution as overloaded as the #NHS with its multi-year waitlists, is it so hard to believe the bias ran the other direction, and it is the NHS assessor that missed something the other clinics unanimously saw? Maybe the scandal isn't what the BBC thinks it is. Maybe it's that Britains are waiting years for help from jaded and burnt-out officials that are often going to overlook their symptoms anyway.