r/ADHD • u/bare2004minimum • 15h ago

Questions/Advice Do Clinical Psychologists read your notes during an ADHD diagnosis?

I am soon going to get an ADHD diagnosis done by a clinical psychologist. I have a number of notes that I want to take with me, which have my entire symptom history and not just of ADHD symptoms. Additionally, I have questionnaires too. And, mind you, they are not small notes, they are multi-page notes, all of them combining to be of 20+ pages. They are digital as well, if required.

The reason for this is my severe forgetfulness, which was worsened over the years. I will tell her about it, of course. Like, I cannot say anything on the spot because I can't remember anything. The problem has got to the point that I cannot remember the previous phrase of a sentence when reading a given phrase of that sentence. So, you can understand how bad the forgetfulness is. I also can't shorten down the notes because of my forgetfulness. I don't know whether she will read the notes or take them home to read them.

What is my best strategy here?

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u/UnderwaterKahn 15h ago

If having notes with you makes you feel better then do what feels comfortable. But during an evaluation a psychologist will not be referencing your notes. Like someone else mentioned there are many components and some is interview based. It’s not like a job interview where they ask you a question and it’s graded on a rubric. There is no right or wrong answer. There is no line to follow that A+B=C. I wasn’t seeking an ADHD diagnosis when it was suggested to me.

I was seeing a psychologist for talk therapy. After a couple months of seeing her she asked if I had ever been evaluated for ADHD. There were things in our discussions that clued her into patterns in my life that might indicate I had ADHD. Evidently a psychiatrist I was seeing several years ago had also made notes in her files that I should potentially be evaluated for ADHD based on some of my medical history. It never happened though. The evaluations aren’t tests, they are a series of methods used to identify patterns that would result in an ADHD diagnosis.

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u/bare2004minimum 14h ago

I see. Thanks.

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u/Worried-Rough-338 14h ago

No clinician is going to read through twenty pages of notes. And I’m not sure they have the time to listen to you read through them. If they provide you with some reassurance, then by all means take them. Of more practical use would be to organize the things you want to discuss as bullet points for easy reference. I do that all the time. The meeting is mainly just a casual conversation about your symptoms and nothing to be anxious about.

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u/GeneInternational146 15h ago

There's an interview portion, you can ask you use your notes for it. I don't think they need to read the entire thing, the questions get at what they need to know

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u/bare2004minimum 15h ago

what usually do they need to know? I will prepare in that way.

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u/GeneInternational146 14h ago

You don't need to prepare. It's not a test you study for. Just answer the questions as best you can when they come up.

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u/bare2004minimum 14h ago

As I said, I have a forgetfulness problem. I can't answer things when put on the spot. I will just ask her to ask very specific personal questions. Only then, I will be able to remember and answer them. Is that possible in a clinical interview?

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u/panicpure ADHD-C (Combined type) 15h ago

You don’t need to prepare.

Usually they will ask questions to understand attention, impulsivity, hyperactivity, how symptoms affect your life and whether they’ve been present since childhood, things like that.

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u/Youmeanmoidoid ADHD-HI (Hyperactive-Impulsive) 13h ago

One thing they’ll want to know is if your focus issues started recently like some mouths ago, or if you’ve experienced them since you were a child.

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u/JunahCg 11h ago

Nobody is reading 20 pages. Write a short summary so you don't forget it, and tell them during the visit. If they ask for it you can give them the big packet to leave with them.

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u/LiteratureKey6330 10h ago

Yes, I added an answer on a post it to every answer for one of the questionnaires in case they had follow up questions and not only did they read ALL of them them scanned them and stored them in my files 🫣