[burntout]

hello, to anyone who has decided to read this.
basically, i have had a lot of trouble focusing/remembering things and have felt depressed for years. now it is really affecting my schoolwork. i feel like i should see a psychiatrist but i feel sort-of embarrassed. i have talked to my parents about this but they don't really believe that anything could be wrong with me. i think this is because they both dealt with a lot of moving around due to being in military families and are accustomed to feeling sad and lonely when they move somewhere new. i would talk about it, then they would say it would pass. also i don't think they believe me because i do well in school, but honestly i have no idea how i do well. i procrastinate like crazy and can barely focus on schoolwork, or anything really. and i've always returned to being depressed, and i hate it. basically, i just feel like i should see a psychiatrist but i feel scared to ask my parents, for fear they will say no or take this the wrong way. i just want to feel better.

[kaliope]

lets make it less scary..........ask to see a counselor. psychiatrist is a big leap and many people put a negative connotation of "crazy" on it....which is ridiculous by the way...but psychiatrists are pretty much all about prescribing meds these days. i think what you are wanting to do right now is to talk to someone to sort out your feelings regarding your inability to focus and depression. the inability to focus happens to be a hallmark of depression by the way. what you want is either a psychologist/PhD (best bet) or an LCSW/MFT. A good start for a recommendation is your counselor at school. that is even someone you could go talk to about this. they are trained as well. they could give you some ideas on how to talk to your parents or even talk to your parents with you. if the counselor thinks you need to see a psychiatrist, they will make that recommendation. if you need to talk more, feel free to private message me. take care.

How do you think they would feel about you seeing a therapist who specializes in seeing teens? Psychotherapists are qualified to diagnose conditions like ADHD, depression, anxiety and others as well.

It sounds like you could do with someone to talk to about your problems, and a therapist is better for that than a psychiatrist these days. Psychiatrists used to spend a lot more time talking to their patients, but over the past 15-20 years, insurance restrictions have limited their time with patients.

The therapist could help you to decide if you need medication or if some of the non-drug methods for dealing with ADHD behaviors like procrastination could be enough.

If you look under the "Quizzes" section on this website, there is a quiz to evaluate you for possible ADHD and also quizzes for depression and anxiety. I think there's a general one for mood, too, that evaluates for several mental health problems.

Oh - I almost forgot. Depression and anxiety can cause ADHD behaviors, so that's another reason that it's important to know specifically what's going on.

I don't know if your school counselor (if your school has one) might have some resources to suggest for managing ADHD behaviors and symptoms. They might also be able to suggest a therapist or psychologist (unless they don't do recommendations.)

If you take one or more quizzes and see what ADHD symptoms you have, you could write them down and figure out how they are affecting your schoolwork and your life in general. Even if you are making good grades now, if you are planning to go to college, those habits will go with you. People often get by okay in high school then are suddenly faced with dealing with their problems when they get to college. That happened to me. It's a lot better if you can start to learn ways to manage time better before you get to college. Your parents might be open to that line of thinking.

I'm glad that you've found the Psych Central forums. The people who post here are generally supportive and caring. There are lots of people with ADHD, depression, and anxiety of all ages.

I know that having a talk with your parents will not be easy. If you make a list of the problems that you're having and how long they've been going on, that might be handy to have when you talk to them.