I have ADHD, and my therapist has confirmed it, just like the results of ADHD tests. He isn’t bad, he greatly helps me with my depression. However, he doesn’t provide an official diagnosis nor prescribe pills.
He says it’s my trait and that I should learn to live with it. Like, take more breaks, find a motivation. Easy to say, hard to do. I can’t keep up with the strategies he suggests, and I feel like I’m not trying hard enough.
The world doesn’t wait for me. This trait is ruining my work and my routine, and it’s stealing my money and my time. I can’t start tasks, I can’t concentrate, and I can’t do anything boring or unpleasant.
For example, I can stare at a wall in the middle of a work task, with my hand over the keyboard, and lose myself in thoughts about my hobby. And I don’t give a damn at this moment about all my reminders, the absence of irritants, and so on.
Of course, sometimes I can force myself “just to do it”, but it costs a ton of energy (btw, because of my depression, I have a tiny amount of energy). It often requires a ton of luck, too.
Is this normal? Am I just complaining?
You’ve gotten some good answers but I’ll add my few cents and I think it mirrors some of the other comments but maybe it’ll help hearing it in a different way. Yes, you do need to “learn to live with it”, in that, you need to be able to recognize how it affects you and those around you and you need to take action to minimize the negative effects. The recognizing and taking action part is the part that a qualified therapist, with a background in ADHD, should help you.
The Last Podcast on the Left guys have a good quote for mental health issues, “It’s not your fault but it is your problem”
Yes, you need to learn to “live with it” but your therapist should be able and willing to assist/support you in that. That being said, you probably need a different therapist, at least for help with ADHD.