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Comment by NortySpock | Hacker News Reader

" diagnosis during childhood so if you're 30 or 40 you might have no chance "

Huh? You don't have to be tested as-a-child, you don't have to call up your fourth grade teacher. You can self report your subjective experience.

"Did you have these problems as a child? Have you always had trouble doing your homework? Did stressing out about homework enable you to do the homework?"

They ask the question a few different ways typically.

I get it, perhaps it is different in your area, but I get the impression that an adult ADHD diagnosis is far from impossible.

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As I said getting a diagnosis varies by region and doctor. A lot. It's practically impossible in some countries. And also depending on region or personal circumstances, it may not be easy to find another doctor or psychiatrist. Also note that in many countries, only a psychiatrist can diagnose it. Even if diagnosed, you might live in a region where most medicine for ADHD is illegal or have a doctor that won't prescribe them. If you just get disbelief after 6 months of waiting, and after another 6 months just get told stimulants are bad, you might give up.

If you search (eg reddit) for ADHD adult diagnosis, it is filled with horror stories. There's even lots of posts of people diagnosed and medicated for 20+ years that move to another country and can't get a prescription. Or you get a prescription, but the pharmacy won't dispense it or insurance won't pay for it. A typical post on these topics also has one or more people responding "I'm in the same place and it was easy" but also has one or more people responding "I'm in the same place and I tried for 3 years before giving up". By the way, it's also common for women to have more trouble getting a diagnosis compared to male siblings and friends with the same symptoms.

Only recently in aus did an adult diagnosis get support from the government PBS scheme. And even then it's because they're letting retroactive childhood diagnoses be considered for the subsidised medication options.

In some countries it's almost impossible (I don't have any direct experience but I've heard tale that in e.g. aus/nz, east asia, south asia, etc people give up before getting diagnosed often), and my understanding is that in Europe it's virtually unheard of to have an adult diagnosis.

In the US, at least, it ranges from difficult to straightforward, but that's not true everywhere

In NZ it's easy, and some GPs can do it as of earlier this year.

IDK I'm just going by a friend moving there and not being able to get any of her existing medication prescribed, even though she's been diagnosed for literally 40 years.

Europe here. I have several friends that got diagnosed with ADHD as adults.

If you try to do it through the public system it's very difficult to even get an appointment because there's months long waiting lists. Basically if you have a job and function somewhat OK in normal life you won't be diagnosed in the public system. If you do get through it can be a long process where they want to interview your parents etc to determine if you had symptoms as a child. But you can also get a diagnosis through private practitioners and some of them function almost like diagnosis mills. A couple of video interviews and tests and you are done.

> ... my understanding is that in Europe it's virtually unheard of to have an adult diagnosis.

Can't speak for the whole of the continent but UK here and I got my ADHD diagnosis a few years shy of 50 years old. Wasn't tricky at all, just a long-ish (8 month) wait for a non-private diagnosis (not full NHS but via an outsourced provider via Right-To-Choose).

When going through the DSM-5 questions (during an ~80 minute interview) I was asked to give examples from both current life experience and from childhood, and that was enough.

Honestly it's really gratifying to hear that people around the world are getting the help they deserve, thanks for sharing.

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