[skissane]

Does the UK have private doctors? If the public system has endless wait times, can you pay $$$ to a doctor to see them quicker privately instead? (Assuming one has $$$ to spend - I acknowledge not everyone does, and the people who would gain the most tangible benefit from a psychiatric diagnosis are often the people least likely to have the $$$ to pay for one.)

[esskay]

It does, I did a bit of digging after posting and it looks like you can get your GP to refer you to a private practice, pay them and then switch back to the GP once you've been diagnosed and started medication.

So it looks like theres an initial cost to get going but it takes the wait time down from ~3 years to around 6 weeks. Think I might need to call my GP and get started, I've been putting this off way too long.

[_dain_]

You don't need to have a GP referral. I didn't. Just go with a private psychiatrist that specializes in ADHD and you can get diagnosed.

[mattbdc]

completely agree about therapy being labeled a panacea...probably a narrative created by psychiatrists/therapists themselves.

and it's kind of a paradox, because I've learned far more from the Internet/educating myself online, to become more self-aware and change my lifestyle drastically, more to the Puritanical side as many mentioned above (but not all the way).

so it's that paradox I struggle with: disconnecting from the internet is healthy for ADD, but the knowledge/hacks/tweaks gained from it has helped far more than medication/therapy ever did.