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Need Advice Regarding ADHD and Depression

I

infowarstudent

New Member
I wasn't exactly sure where to put this, but this seemed the best.

I'm currently in BDCP, graduated, and recently got my orders to OCS for the beginning of January. It started before I got the orders, but I have been feeling extremely depressed and am currently attempting to get an appointment with the local MTF with a therapist. I also believe that I have a mild form of ADHD-PI (ADD) that has gone undiagnosed, and I have testing set up for that next week. Both of which has made it hard to study, exercise, and be motivated to go.

My recruiter has been on leave and won't be back until the 19th, so I haven't been able to talk to him about this. Assuming I get diagnosed for either both or one of them, how will this affect my abilities to go to OCS?

I personally don't want to go if I'm depressed to begin with, I think it will just make it worse. I would rather not put myself in a situation where I'd seriously consider hurting myself. Does anyone have any information or advice on what to do or what will happen?

Tbanks.
 
BusyBee604

BusyBee604

St. Francis/Hugh Hefner Combo!
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
infowarstudent said:
I wasn't exactly sure where to put this, but this seemed the best.
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I think you need to post this request in the Naval Aviators Forum - Doc's Corner - "Ask the Flight Surgeon" thread. You need professional medical opinions/advice for your mental issues. I do believe you would never make it very far in OCS, with the problems you describe not totally resolved. Some cannot absorb the pressures & stress of OCS, even with a "clear" mental state.
BzB
 
LFCFan

LFCFan

*Insert nerd wings here*
If you get diagnosed, you probably aren't going. There are time windows on virtually all common psych disorders where you can get a waiver, but not the month beforehand.

Mood disorders can often cause people to feel distracted and unable to concentrate - a symptom that is often mistaken for ADHD. If you've gone this far in life with good grades and no one thinking you needed meds, you probably don't have ADHD (I say this knowing nothing about your situation, just pointing out something you might find useful). If you think you might hurt yourself, it sounds more like depression and frankly being in the military probably isn't going to help that. Have there been any recent life events or temporary circumstances that have led to this, or is it just striking out of nowhere?

I'm totally willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I would imagine that the timing of this is going to look very suspicious to a lot of people (your OR, NRC folks who manage BDCP, etc). Be prepared for things to get nasty if they think you are "pulling this" just before OCS.
 
I

infowarstudent

New Member
LFCFan said:
I'm totally willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I would imagine that the timing of this is going to look very suspicious to a lot of people (your OR, NRC folks who manage BDCP, etc). Be prepared for things to get nasty if they think you are "pulling this" just before OCS.
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I can definitely see where you are coming from, so I'll take caution when informing my OR and whomever else I have to speak to.

As for the timing, a trigger for depression can actually be entry into military service. But while that maybe a factor for mine, I believe I'm mostly depressed about the the passing of two grandparents within 2 weeks and two other family members in the last two months. I'm also having issues with a relationship and having few to no friends to help cope with things.

As for the ADHD-PI, it might be harder to get a clear diagnosis right now because of the depression, but I do have school records from elementary school that state I had problems paying attention, concentrating, handing things on time, as well as being behind in reading, writing, and speech. The later have comorbidity with ADHD. While I have caught up in those subjects, I've still had issues with procrastination, concentrating, poor listening skills, and poor attention to details.
 
LFCFan

LFCFan

*Insert nerd wings here*
infowarstudent said:
I can definitely see where you are coming from, so I'll take caution when informing my OR and whomever else I have to speak to.

As for the timing, a trigger for depression can actually be entry into military service. But while that maybe a factor for mine, I believe I'm mostly depressed about the the passing of two grandparents within 2 weeks and two other family members in the last two months. I'm also having issues with a relationship and having few to no friends to help cope with things.

As for the ADHD-PI, it might be harder to get a clear diagnosis right now because of the depression, but I do have school records from elementary school that state I had problems paying attention, concentrating, handing things on time, as well as being behind in reading, writing, and speech. The later have comorbidity with ADHD. While I have caught up in those subjects, I've still had issues with procrastination, concentrating, poor listening skills, and poor attention to details.
Click to expand...

Wow, I'm sorry for your losses. To be very blunt, they are probably not the kind of thing you want to derail your future over. They are terrible things, but you can get counseling for them without consulting a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist looking for a diagnosis. A bit of grief counseling does not throw up the same kind of red flags that getting a diagnosis does. And if you got medicated, that would complicate things further.

If you were a crappy student in elementary school, you may have outgrown it. Proof in childhood is generally required to get a diagnosis, but to go BDCP you had to keep a certain GPA in college, and you probably earned a technical degree. It is highly highly unlikely that whatever attentional problems you are having are strong enough to warrant a diagnosis. As a student you probably worked countless hours per week, and will continue to do so in the military. Everyone's performance suffers under suboptimal conditions. However, clinical diagnoses are constructed based upon people working under normal conditions and contexts. For example, if most middle aged adults drank like college students, we'd call them alcoholics. If someone works a normal ass non-challenging 9-5 office job and has problems with attention to detail, they might have ADHD. If you have been staring at the same problem set for 4 hours and can't concentrate anymore, that doesn't necessarily mean you have a problem.

I can't tell you exactly what to do. If I were you, I would probably get some grief counseling and let your OR know that you are doing it. It may affect you going to OCS, or it may not. But I can tell you with damn near 100% certainty that what you talked about in your first post WILL. Maybe they can push back your start date or something - but I don't know. I can say that a year from now if you are over the problems you are having now and aren't in the navy, or worse stuck with a ton of debt from BDCP, you might regret it.
 
zippy

zippy

Freedom!
pilot
Contributor
Early identification that you think you have a problem may be your lack of self confidence causing you to create a mountain out of a mole hill for yourself but if this is a legitimate issue for you, by all means get it checked out. Leave the diagnosis up to a medical professional, and avoid hypothesizing about potential medical issues you may have to your OR or anyone else in your administrative chain until you know for sure- it will only make your life more complicated... Military One Source is a good place to get council for things... and is completely anonymous. It might be a good resource for you to look into before you start going and creating paper trails for yourself over nothing (could just be fear and intepidation about the future etc), on the other hand council with them might determine that you have an underlying issue (early 20s is the prime age for onset of personality disorders). I've unfortunately had a couple friends and a family member deal with these types issues recently and one thing I've learned is that however helpful everyone's suggestions might be, until you deal with a qualified mental health professional, you'll be dealing with amateur hour. Your future career in the military is dependent on a valid diagnosis or dismissal of a psychological condition- don't fuck around with that.
 
BusyBee604

BusyBee604

St. Francis/Hugh Hefner Combo!
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
zippy said:
nd one thing I've learned is that however helpful everyone's suggestions might be, until you deal with a qualified mental health professional, you'll be dealing with amateur hour. Your future career in the military is dependent on a valid diagnosis or dismissal of a psychological condition- don't fuck around with that.
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Yes, you've gotten lots of advice here from us amateurs. The best advice given, was to bring this up with our resident "flying sawbones" on our DOC'S CORNER Forum. Have you done that? Time is running out for your OCS date.:confused:
BzB
 
LFCFan

LFCFan

*Insert nerd wings here*
zippy said:
.... one thing I've learned is that however helpful everyone's suggestions might be, until you deal with a qualified mental health professional, you'll be dealing with amateur hour. Your future career in the military is dependent on a valid diagnosis or dismissal of a psychological condition- don't fuck around with that.
Click to expand...

Hey now, I'm only a semi-amateur! But solid advice. I do think that grief counseling might be a good place for him to start, and if they think there is something more serious going on they can refer him elsewhere. This will at least prevent the military from getting involved unless necessary.
 
E

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
Losing family members can be hard but as much as it sucks it is part of life, I know first hand as I have lost a close family member recently, and everyone deals with it differently.

Have you talked to the other family members about the loss, that may help.
 
alaurin

alaurin

All day, every day!
infowarstudent said:
I can definitely see where you are coming from, so I'll take caution when informing my OR and whomever else I have to speak to.

As for the timing, a trigger for depression can actually be entry into military service. But while that maybe a factor for mine, I believe I'm mostly depressed about the the passing of two grandparents within 2 weeks and two other family members in the last two months. I'm also having issues with a relationship and having few to no friends to help cope with things.

As for the ADHD-PI, it might be harder to get a clear diagnosis right now because of the depression, but I do have school records from elementary school that state I had problems paying attention, concentrating, handing things on time, as well as being behind in reading, writing, and speech. The later have comorbidity with ADHD. While I have caught up in those subjects, I've still had issues with procrastination, concentrating, poor listening skills, and poor attention to details.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your loss.

If you have been able to function the last few years in school and keep your grades up, then I wouldn't chalk it up to ADD/ADHD. A few members of my family are ADHD, I was also told I was ADHD-PI at one point despite having been checked for ADD/ADHD years prior. It's normal to be depressed or sad sometimes, life's not all a barrel of ha-has and good times. Or even in-attentive. If I were you, I would try to take some time to grieve, reevaluate, vent with somebody you know+trust and do something enjoyable. Your circumstances seem to be the source of your inattention rather than you or your brain chemicals. Feel free to PM me if you want (most of my immediate family are healthcare providers).

Disclaimer: If you feel the compulsion to hurt yourself then please take several deep breaths and go get help ASAP.
 
I

infowarstudent

New Member
Thought I would get an update: I have been administratively discharged today. Should be getting discharge papers in the mail in the coming weeks, and I cannot re enlist ever.
 
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