Psychological assessment | ADHD Information

Be careful when they say a "mood disorder".  Make sure you know what they are talking about.  They might try to add an antidepressant.  If they do this, watch very carefully for suicidal tendancies.  Depression is treated with AD's and can be very effective, but bipolar disorder is treated with mood stabilizers, antipsychotics and sometimes antidepressants.  It all depends on the symptoms.  Usually the mood needs to be stabilized first and then other medications can be added to treat the symptoms that are left.  Often, once the mood is stabilized, the other symptoms disappear.I don't know if this is the same type of assessment that DD had, but it sounds like it might be. DD had a 6 hr. evaluation followed up by a complete, comprehensive written report breaking down learning and psychological observations and testing results. DD's dx of ADHD was confirmed along with an explanation of her strengths and deficits. This was also how we found out that she is gifted. How long is your son's assessment supposed to take?I'm not sure. Never done any testing before. I was just told to have an written psychological assessment done to better understand why he is having sooo many problems. The doc. said he has ADHD and a mood disorder. They want to pin point any othe things.

Most kids who have adhd also suffer from some sort of depression. There have been times when kids get misdiagnosed with adhd when they are only depressed. Be careful in this area.

Diagnosing Adhd is not easy, you can not test for it chemically. There are just "earmarks" for it but some of the characteristics of it can be misleading. I am glad to have a child that is adha. I know THAT sounds crazy, but what would life be like with out him. Everyday is a new challenge. I never know how my day will end. I am not sure I would be happy with anything else.

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I am taking my 10yr. old son to a Psychologist to have a written psychological assessment. Any one else have this done?

by this do you mean a formal diagnosis? I have a confidentail report that was written by a psychologist when he was 5 while in kendergarten. Now he sees a psychiatrist.I am not sure, formal or confidentail. I guess formal.