Aurora, I know that ADHD often overlaps with other diagnoses, such as anxiety and depression. I hadn't heard of PTSD overlap though. What assessments did your therapist do for ADHD? Did he/she rule it out with certain instruments? If you are testing ADHD on the tests, then what is the reason for not trying a trial of meds to see if they help? I guess what I didn't like about that article is that it says giving ADHD treatment ot people who dissociate (=PTSD by their definition) is potentially harmful, but it didn't say why or what the consequences were. If a person does dissociate from time to time and has a lot of ADHD symptoms, why not try them on ADHD meds for a week and see how it goes. If it helps, then great! If it doesn't, then discontinue. Where's the harm?

I have PTSD and I am taking meds for ADHD symptoms: Vyvanse + Wellbutrin. These are helping me tremendously. I don't even care if I have ADHD as far as the meds go. They are helping me, and that's the bottom line for me. I can focus better, get things done, not get as distracted. If that is really PTSD and not ADHD is it really important as long as the treatment works?

Can you go to another provider? I did not go to an ADHD specialist. I went to a PNP. They are cheaper than pdocs but still with advanced training in psychiatric diagnosis and prescribing. Your therapist is not the person who decides whether you go on meds or not anyway. Therapists cannot prescribe. You need to go to an MD or a NP for that. If it were me, I would drop the topic with the therapist and focus on your other work there, on things the therapist can help you with. And at the same time, I would go to someone with prescriptive authority to talk to them about ADHD diagnosis and treatment.

Good luck.