Do I Really Need to See a Psychiatrist for My ADHD?

psychiatrist with patient

Summary: Yes, you really need to see a psychiatrist for ADHD if you want access to the full range of effective treatment options recommended by mental health experts.

Key Points:

  • Evidence shows the most effective treatment for ADHD includes a combination of medication and therapy.
  • Psychiatrists are the only mental health providers with the training and licensure to prescribe medication and therapy for patients with ADHD.
  • In most cases, a psychiatrist will diagnose ADHD and prescribe medication, while a psychologist, therapist, or counselor will provide behavioral therapy and/or psychotherapy if necessary

ADHD: The Basic Facts

In the publication ADHD in Adults: An Overview the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define ADHD as follows:

“ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that develops during childhood and often lasts into adulthood. While ADHD is often thought of as a childhood disorder, some adults may have ADHD but have never been diagnosed.”

Seeking professional treatment and support for ADHD is essential. If you’re an adult, you may experience a common symptom of ADHD – hyperactivity – in the form of restlessness, agitation, or frustration. Or you may experience a common symptom of ADHD – inattention – as procrastination, an inability to follow through on projects, or declining overall work performance.

In addition, the CDC indicates that adults diagnosed with ADHD may have trouble:

  • Staying organized
  • Sustaining focus over long periods of time
  • Keeping track of personal items
  • Listening to/following complex instructions
  • Remembering important deadlines, appointments, or dates

Adults who seek professional support for ADHD most often report:

  • Frustration and inconsistency at work
  • Losing/quitting jobs more often than peers
  • Academic frustration/underachievement
  • Problems managing daily adult responsibilities, including keeping up with/remembering to complete household tasks, paying bills, staying organized

For adults, these common symptoms/ADHD associated behaviors can lead to:

  • Stress over work issues
  • Stress over money issues
  • Problems in relationships
  • Decreased self-esteem related to work, money, and relationship stress

In addition, adults with ADHD often report intense and recurring feelings of frustration, guilt, and/or self-blame associated with all of the above.

Treatment for ADHD: What Works?

If you read the bullet lists above and they resonate with you, meaning you read them and say, yes, that one hundred percent sounds like me, then asking yourself do I really need to see a psychiatrist for my ADHD is exactly the right thing to do.

Why?

Because professional support with a real clinical treatment team – including a psychiatrist who can prescribe medication – offers your best chance of managing your symptoms, reducing the types of stress, frustration, and general difficulties we mention above and regaining control of your daily behavior, and therefore, your life.

Evidence shows the following approaches to treatment – in combination – are the most effective approaches to managing symptoms of ADHD:

Medication:

  • Psychostimulant medication:
    • Methylphenidate (MPH), such as Concerta
    • Amphetamines (AMP), such as Adderal
  • Non-stimulant medication
    • These are often prescribed to patients who don’t respond to stimulant medication, or cannot take stimulant medication for medical or psychiatric reasons
  • Other medications:
    • Antidepressants: in some cases, providers and patients may agree to the approved, off-label use of antidepressants, which help some patients manage ADHD symptoms
    • Antihypertensives and wake-promoting medications: in some cases, providers and patients may agree to the approved, off-label use of these medication when first-line medications are ineffective

Behavioral Therapy and Coaching:

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT):
    • CBT can help people with ADHD address executive function differences to improve time management, organization, and planning.
    • CBT can help people with ADHD recognize disruptive patterns of thought and apply strategies to replace them with productive patterns of thought.
    • Changing patterns of thought associated with ADHD can help people change behaviors that cause problems with daily function
Evidence shows that close to half of adults with ADHD have an anxiety disorder and close to a third have a depressive disorder, both of which benefit from cognitive-based psychotherapy such as CBT.
  • Coaching:
    • Professional therapists and counselors often specialize in coaching adults with ADHD
    • Coaching can help people with ADHD identify goals and apply strategies to achieve them, stay organized, manage time, apply lessons learned in therapy to daily life

While a psychologist, counselor, and therapist can offer behavioral therapy and counseling, only a physician can prescribe medication for ADHD.

Your ADHD Treatment Team

The primary reason we think you really need to see a psychiatrist for ADHD is practical. With a psychiatrist on your treatment team, all options are on the table. Your treatment may include medication and therapy provided by a psychiatrist only, medication prescribed and managed by a psychiatrist combined with therapy provided by a therapist or counselor, medication only, or therapy and coaching only.

Whatever the case, it often takes time to discover what works for you. To do that, you need access to the wide range of effective, evidence-based support for ADHD currently available. With a psychiatrist on your treatment team, that’s what you have: access and options.

As we say here at Crownview Medical:

With the right tools, everything is possible, and nothing is out of reach.

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