Actually ADHD is now ranked #1 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify for ADHD medication. To mark it, Jonathan Murphy, PMHNP-BC, does the episode people keep asking for: how to actually get evaluated and treated, what to say, and what to watch for.
Largely US-applicable, though the language of advocacy translates.
In this episode:
▸ How made up your mind should be before you walk in
▸ The duplicity trap: believing you have ADHD and believing society just drugs people
▸ What happened to the kids who were medicated consistently vs. the ones who weren't
▸ Why undiagnosed adults had to adapt more, and what that adaptation tells you
▸ Giving yourself the clean trial first — sleep, exercise, substances — before deciding
▸ The narrative you were fed about why you don't have ADHD, and who fed it to you
▸ A psych evaluation thrown across the room
▸ Why being on medication at 16 without consistency didn't change anything
▸ Learning the prescribing practices were different, and what that revealed
▸ Letting go, and what comes in when your hands are open
▸ The language of advocacy: task avoidance, sustaining attention, following through, prioritizing, time
▸ Functional impairment in two or more areas
▸ Onset at eight to ten, and what a lifespan story should look like
▸ Why the further you get from 20, the less likely it is
▸ Diagnosis as identity, and why it was never intended that way
▸ Controlled substances, misuse, and why standardizing appropriate use is the answer to it
▸ Avoid any place that treats you like a criminal
▸ Reading your prescriber: are they a yeah-whatever, or are they going to be tough on you
▸ When to treat anxiety or depression first, and why you still come back around
▸ Goldilocks dosing and extended release
▸ Developmental Reinforcement Theory and why getting meds on board was the easy part
▸ To clinicians worried about diagnosing ADHD: you're diagnosing the medicine
▸ The fatalism around diagnosis, and how it gets monetized
▸ High-masking autism, and why someone performing it can't sustain the performance
▸ Why people on the spectrum see people — and what the processing difference actually is
▸ Toxic people and malleability
▸ Why most people don't have ADHD, and why that's the point
▸ Be careful what you disclose: private medical information, workplaces, courtrooms
▸ Why he doesn't use "neurodivergent," and the one place he thinks it fits
▸ The Vyvanse-first-day fallacy, and what the real goal looks like
"I feel like myself." That's the goal.
📕 The Process: An Adult's Guide to ADHD Medication — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2Z6PM4T
📗 Cheat Codes — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FMJLQKBW
⚠️ Educational purposes only. Not medical advice, not a treatment recommendation for any individual, and no clinical relationship is established by listening. Everything here is consistent with mainstream, current standards of care — bring it to your own prescriber. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
Jonathan Murphy, PMHNP-BC | Focus Path
Licensed in MA, NH, WA, OR | NPI 1821441965
Board Certified | ANCC 2017007119
CHADD Professional Member | ADDitude Professional Directory
🎥 https://www.youtube.com/@focuspathsystems
🔗 https://myfocuspath.com
🔗 https://www.myfocuspath.blog
📧 https://mailchi.mp/myfocuspath/focus-path-pmhnp
