<p>My wife is a special Ed teacher for 35 years. She has recommended evaluations for years. You Can be treated by a developmental pediatrician, developmental neurologist if you are under 21 or a regular neurologist if older but just call to see they handle ADD in their practice.</p>
<p>You want to avoid a mental health record if you want a security clearance, a gun permit or sensitive job with the government. I personally know of a couple of policemen who have ADD . I know their parents and they are being treated by neurologists so they have no mental health records.</p>
<p>What’s the difference between a neurologist and a psychiatrist? I tried looking up both and it would be very hard for me to get to the only office I found for a neurologist.</p>
<p>There is a federal program for Medicare records called PHIN. It allows patients visiting any Medicare doctor to have all their records immediately visible at once. The affordable care act will hook into this or create their own version so one’s mental health records will follow them Everywhere in the future. I fully expect even politicians to look into these records to do oppositional research on adversaries since IRS records which already include jail time for willful disclosure have been breeched.</p>
<p>Also mental health benefits are much lower dollar amounts than general health services on health plans. The deductible may be higher or the portion paid by patient might be higher.</p>
<p>Finally, if a person has a true mental health problem that only a psychiatrist can treat they should seek treatment, but is ADD is equally treated by neurologists.</p>
<p>ADD is listed in the current DSM5 as a neuro-behavioral disorder.</p>
<p>The distinction between neurology and psychiatry is often fuzzy, but generally it’s characterized as hardware vs software issues. Neurologists treat hardware problems while psychiatrists treat software problems. </p>
<p>Most ADD patients are treated by a psychiatrist or a family physician. (You need a full neuro-psych work up for an initial diagnosis since depression, anxiety, OCD and other psychiatric disorders are common co-morbidities for ADD.)</p>
<p>“What’s the difference between a neurologist and a psychiatrist”
-Migrane, stroke, many other “neuro” disorders
-Shizo…, personality disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders
I guess they can cross, but they are very different disorders. Psych ward is very different from many other departments in a hospital.
Neurologist and a psychiatrist are probably just as far away from each other as nephrologist and cardiologist. They also probably cross at some point.</p>
<p>In New Jersey many kids and adults are treated by neurologists for it. The developmental pedis and neuros send their kids to regular neuros at 21 or 22 years of age. My wife knows literally HUNDREDS over 30 years in NJ and 5 years in Illinois who go to neurologists . Just a few years ago knowledge that ADD in adults can be controlled with Focalin, ritalin etc became public knowledge. They also treat neurological deficits from birth and autism.</p>
<p>For kids who have oppositional defiance disorder or violent disorders in conjunction with ADD they go to psychologists or psychiatrists.</p>
<p>This along with autism is why my daughter will become a pediatric neurologist.</p>
<p>The lines between psychiatry and neurology have been blurring for quite a while and will only continue to blur as more research into the biological basis of mental illness is conducted.</p>
<p>Back when the specialties were actually created it was a pretty clear distinction of: neurologists treat brain disorders that you can point at (see this tumor? see this clot? see this scar in your brain?) while psychiatrists treated things you couldn’t point to (depression, anxiety, psychosis). “Politics” might keep them apart but scientifically at least they will undoubtedly eventually converge.</p>
<p>For a diagnosis like ADD, i’d argue you should mainly see a psychologist or social worker trained in cognitive development/learning disabilities to work on non pharmacologic management and have them work with someone to write you a prescription for (dex)methylphenidate (i.e. focalin/ritalin) and manage any potential side effects. This could be a psychiatrist, a neurologist, or even your primary care provider.</p>
<p>Every state manages ADD and educational disabilities differently. </p>
<p>In my state a licensed (PhD or EdD level) educational specialist/educational psychologist is the primary diagnostician for learning disabilities. A neuro-psychologist or neuro-psychiatrist can also diagnose (and their evaluations are accepted for accommodations by most public schools). A psychologist (my state allows specially licensed clinical psychologists to prescribe from a restricted list of psychiatric medications including ADD meds) or family physician typically will prescribe ADD meds. (Huge state-wide shortage of psychiatrists with often a several month to a year backlog for appointments.) Coping skills are taught by spec ed teachers, clinical social workers or educational psychologists. </p>
<p>It also depends to certain extent on medical reimbursement policies within the state. Our state medicare will not reimburse neurologists for ADD treatment unless it has an organic origin (brain injury, for example). </p>
<p>Local practice is shaped by the state’s education standards and requirements, although in this state the definitions and accepted practice vary by school district. For example, one county/school district does not and never has recognized as gifted and talented as in need of special services because between 30-40% of all residents under age 18 qualify. Literally, you cannot live in that school district and be identified as ‘gifted’.</p>
<p>This is pretty common in a top school (MIT alum here, I was in a similar situation). You get a bunch of people who breezed through high school together, then you make classes hard enough to get a normal grade distribution - ta-da, a bunch of people who have no idea how to study and start getting poor grades. </p>
<p>So first thing you have to do is learn to study. And it’s going to hurt. Because some people <em>will</em> have already figured it out, and plenty of people will <em>pretend</em> to have figured it out or be too brilliant to study - you’d be surprised how many people study more than they admit But this results in you, wrongly, feeling stupid to ask for help.</p>
<p>So let me be clear. It is stupid to not ask for help.</p>
<p>You have teaching assistants (or teaching fellows or whathaveyou). You have professors. They have office hours. You might be able to form a study group. You might have options for tutoring. You need to pursue every single one of these things. You need to dump the activities you’re doing that aren’t related to graduating. You need to take a reasonable number of classes - take whatever a standard student takes, no more. You need to master this schedule before you even think about taking on anything else.</p>
<p>You need to ask for help. Period.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend reading Study Hacks (google it). It’s great perspective.</p>
<p>Most top schools in this country have places on campus where students can get coaching, tutoring, instruction in time management skills, etc. They may also refer you to ADD testing on campus, if available. My oldest son went to Tulane as an undergrad and had many similar problems to what you describe. He was at the top of his class at a small HS, got a 34 on his ACT, and was running into real organization problems at college, which got worse as each semester went by. He finally went to the student success center, success.tulane.edu - and got coaching, tutoring, writing and study skills help and a referral for ADD screening (he had been diagnosed years earlier as a child). This help, which he was loathe to accept his first year, made the difference for him and allowed him to graduate on time and successfully. He is now in his 3rd year of law school at Tulane, and although he is still struggles with ADD at times, his study skills are there, and he knows he can produce work and meet deadlines. I would encourage you to avail yourself of whatever is available to you on campus - there is no stigma and they want you to succeed. Feel free to PM me if you’d like more information. Good luck!</p>
<p>"…I could easily bring a 2.7 in sciences to a 3.5"</p>
<p>I wish you the best. Often there’s a gap in what people say they are going to do and what they actually do. Only the latter matters, I’m afraid.</p>
<p>"The lines between psychiatry and neurology have been blurring "
D. had both rotations and her experience in psych ward and neurology department is very very different in every aspect. There is nothing in a hospital like psych ward.</p>
<p>What I mean by blurring is the concept that neurology deals with physical ailments while psych does not. More and more research is elucidating the biological correlates of mental illness. While the breadth of the field might be too large to ever consolidate it into one specialty there is no disputing the fact that the distinction of “hardware vs. software” is slowly disappearing.</p>
<p>If your family has the money, go to college for more than four years and retake courses. </p>
<p>As for how much time you should be spending, the rule of thumb is 3 hours outside of class for every 1 hour in class. So if you are taking four courses that are 3 hours total each week, that is 12 hours in class and 36 hours outside of class.</p>
<p>What do you do for all that time? Priority is homework, then studying for exams that are in the near future. Then reading ahead or re-reading old chapters. Any course that you are doing well in with less than 9 hours per week outside of class, find your happy place and use less hours if your grade doesn’t suffer. Any course you are having trouble in, meet with the professor ASAP (first week of the semester if at all possible) and get help from them.</p>
<p>If you are REALLY bright (and if you aren’t lying about your test scores, you are), you could be a great doctor. But you have to put in the time and pass the courses. Again, if your family has the money, go undergrad for more than four years and retake any courses that you get a D in, and consider retaking any C courses that are really important for med school.</p>
<p>As for med school and flunking out - the sooner you start better habits, the better. When you are a resident, you’ll laugh about bad time management, you are forced to schedule in eating and using the bathroom you’ll be so busy.</p>
<p>Another path which my brother chose after he dropped out of six-year med is becoming an EMT. You still have on-call aspects, but the path to be an EMT is much easier and they are in demand. You may even save more lives than you would have as a doctor.</p>
<p>The endless proliferation of “get things done” methods, the sheer number of people who don’t get things done, and the relative absence at the top of people who are incapable of prolonged focus and effort on anything that lacks the trait of immediate interestingness are all the pieces of evidence you need. Even the various (always unverified) anecdotes of people that have overcome those tendencies and are now wildly successful have an obvious purpose: to prevent the doomed from becoming too miserable or disgruntled. This is a problem with no solution. Methods do not work. If they did, there’d only be a few and they’d be taught in elementary school. Medication does not work for most people. If your own will to do things cannot inspire you to do them, there’s no magic lecture you can give yourself that fixes it. The worse your time-frittering is relative to everyone else’s, the more hopeless the situation is. And yours, like mine, is pretty bad.</p>
<p>I do have ADHD and have the same habits that you describe. These have worked for me at my junior college. I just graduated this morning with my AA. I managed a 3.09 with only a handful of times that I really had to study hard (zoology kicked my butt!). I can definitely use these tips since I am starting at UF in the spring and there’s no way my previous methods will work there.</p>
<p>Agree with all of the posters who suggested getting help from the academic support office–if you have proper testing you would at least get extra time for exams and perhaps a counselor to help you with time managment and executive functioning.</p>
<p>Practically speaking, I recommend that you go to the library or another quiet place Sunday to Thursday from 7pm (right after dinner) to 11pm, i.e. not your dorm room or even in the hall. You can plan out what you need to study each night and start with your easiest subject and get it out of the way (for me Math and languages)–leave reading to a bit later in the evening.</p>
<p>iwbb,
" More and more research is elucidating the biological correlates of mental illness"
-I must have misunderstood my D. According to my understanding, mental illness is always biological, it is chemical imbalance, isn’t it? What else? OK, I heard about case when person was missing half of his brain from birth. Yes, it was a psych case, not neuro. He was savant who was absolutely incapable of taking care of himself. He was genius in many unrelated areas, simply amamzing, but he would not be able to tie his shoes. He looked like in his late 40s, living with his father who was taking care of him. He seemed not having any neuro disorders/problems at all. Yes, his scan showed that the whole half of his brain was not there at all.
I am just listenning, I have no MD background, no knowledge of how brain operates.</p>
But this results in you, wrongly, feeling stupid to ask for help.</p>