Are you unable to sit still? Do you struggle to pay attention in class? Is it difficult to study? If so, you may have ADHD.

     Wait, don’t jump to conclusions yet. If you have trouble focusing, it might not be ADHD; you may have a vitamin deficiency. You may have depression. You may be hypomanic. You may have anxiety. You may have PTSD. You may have sleep deprivation. You may have a circadian rhythm disorder. You may have sleep apnea. You may even be struggling because of substance abuse, or caffeine dependence. It may not even be other illnesses that are the problem; it could just be your attention span shortening from the overindulgence of dopaminergic content like TikTok.

     This is differential diagnosis. 

     This is what doctors are trained to do. This is why you go to a doctor and get a proper diagnosis – they account for all the possibilities.

     Now, you may say: ‘I know myself the best,’ or ‘my doctor won’t listen to me,’ and that is where the importance of self-diagnosis comes into play. If you genuinely believe you have a problem, and you feel your doctor has come to a premature or incomplete conclusion, communicate with them and request further answers. If they refuse to elaborate to you, it may be time to find another doctor, because they are not doing their job of helping you.

     Self-diagnosis can be helpful when trying to recognize a problem, but it is harmful when you conclude you have a certain disorder or illness without professional follow-up.

     Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Alok Kanojia speaks on the importance of self-diagnosis, as well as its detriments. “Unless you are trained in differential diagnosis, the challenge of self-diagnosis on the internet is that there could be a thousand other things that create this constellation of symptoms, and if you really want to make an accurate diagnosis, a part of that is ruling out all of that other stuff,” Dr. Kanojia explains. “So can you diagnose yourself on the internet? Generally speaking, I wouldn’t recommend it, but I do think it’s a good idea to educate yourself, formulate hypotheses, and try to share those as transparently as possible with a particular medical provider. And hopefully, they’ll incorporate your information into their diagnostic experience, and that’s usually when you arrive at the best diagnosis.”

     There is no denying an ADHD evaluation can be pricey. However, the price is necessary to cover the multitude of hours spent by these professionals evaluating and coming to an expert conclusion. The reason seeing a doctor is so important is because they provide you with valuable insight you are unable to receive elsewhere. What if you can’t afford the hundreds of dollars it costs? Well, for NH students, there is a school psychologist you can connect with, and they can help point you in the proper direction.

     “When individuals self-diagnose psychological syndromes, they can miss a medical disease that contributes to their symptoms,” adds ValleyCares chief medical officer, Dr. Todd Thatcher. “With self-diagnosis, you also run the risk of being completely wrong about an illness you have, especially if the symptoms you are experiencing are common.”