Psychiatry-UK 2024-04-30 Person 5 5 0

I understand that many don't believe in the need for a 'label' such as comes with a diagnosis of autism or ADHD or, in my own case, both. But having access to Psychiatry UK's services and getting these diagnoses at the ripe old age of 51 has helped me to understand a life that has been beset with anxiety, panic and depression, problems with relationships and employment and feeling like I fail at all the stuff that 'normal' people do without thinking. I've only ever managed to 'fit in' with huge effort (and subsequent exhaustion), have properly dreaded and feared social activity for weeks and even months ahead of any plans, felt the need to work at 200% and accept only perfection in my job but only really thriving in my own little worlds of special interests and hobbies. But 51yo women don't have ADHD and aren't autistic and anyway it's just fashionable at the moment or a phase or everyone is being overdiagnosed and so I've felt isolated and ignored and like I'm doing life 'wrong' my whole life - but my two psychiatrists and my nurse prescriber at Psychiatry UK have listened and understood and explained and that goes a long way before any prescription has even been mentioned. The NHS Right to Choose has given me access to something I could never have afforded myself and had changed the way I see myself and allowed me to give myself a bit of a break. And there are other people out there just like me with all their various symptoms and experiences that they can't make sense of and I really hope that they learn about themselves with Psychiatry UK too. I'll never be neurotypical (and I'm not sure that I'd want to be) and I'll always have struggles but getting that 'label' and understanding what it means has been invaluable to me.