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Do I Need a Diagnosis to Understand Who I Am?
Considering an evaluation after a stranger reframed my past
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After seeing me on the news talking about my walk around Great Britain for a mental health charity, James Kindred contacted me through social media and suggested we meet.
He owned The Big Drop, an alcohol-free brewing company, was a graphic designer, and gave public talks about neurodivergence.
They had his AF beer on tap in the pub where we met, and we chatted over a pint.
Like many people I met on the coast, James was keen to talk to me about mental health. He had recently been diagnosed with ADHD and autism which had caused big changes in his life, and it was about to change my perspective, too.
As James spoke about his neurodivergence and how it affected his mental health, I could only think how much his experience reminded me of my own.
“Up until my diagnosis, it was a literal roller coaster of emotions ,” James explained, “I was constantly self-medicating with alcohol or being dysregulated and not understanding why my brain was continually trying to derail me.”
I recognised my own experience as he spoke about the overwhelm of sitting in a quiet room flooded…
