I had a first session with a counsellor this morning, and she’s going to talk to the testing person about whether it makes sense to have me tested for ADHD; we’ll talk about it more next week.
The main things we identified in an hour are that I am overall doing pretty well (family, friends, work, etc.), except when it comes to writing novels. And the main things that are getting in the way of my novel-writing are:
a) intense anxiety about doing it badly (leading to avoidance and/or rushing through the writing), and
b) a tendency to switch quickly from little task to little task, being super-productive at those, but avoiding anything that involves deeper thought.
Is the latter linked to ADHD? We’ll see. We’ll probably do a couple talk-therapy sessions before we even seriously revisit testing, just so she can get a sense of where we are.
I am delighted to discover, though, that a weekly session with her will only cost me $20 each (hurrah for insurance), and that her office is a three block walk from my house. Anything that makes it easier is good. It felt, I admit, a little weird walking into a therapist’s office. Mental health stigma, bah. Silly society. Silly brain.