I did the thing we’re all conditioned to do, which was to reach out to my NHS GP. I filled out the questionnaires, ticking box after box with ‘very often’ and passed the benchmark scores with flying colours. If it was possible to get an A* in ADHD traits, I’d have definitely got one. It was pretty damn obvious I had it, and my GP even agreed with me.

But then came the news that I’d have to wait five years to get a diagnosis. This neurological condition was tagged onto an overcrowded ‘mental health’ division which meant I’d have to wait half a decade to even get a piece of paper validating my struggles. I was curtly told by a tired receptionist over the phone that I should probably leave it unless I had the money to go private.

As a first-generation student who was working alongside my degree during a pandemic, I didn’t. I really didn’t. I was informed of a scheme known as Right to Choose, which is where you can transfer care to a strictly vetted, NHS-affiliated clinical commissioning group if you require more urgent treatment. “Great,” I thought. “So I wouldn’t have to pay hundreds of pounds after all.” Only I did, because the backlog even for this scheme was growing by months, and every day the NHS presented a new speedbump that would delay my assessment by even longer. I gritted my teeth and worked a hell of a lot of overtime to get the money together for a private appointment. This isn’t something that I’m proud of, and I certainly don’t think other people should do the same thing. I was overworking when I was already finding the bare minimum hard enough because I desperately needed that assessment, and there was no other way I could access it.

You shouldn’t have to work yourself to illness to be taken seriously, but it was a physical and mental burden I had no choice but to endure if I wanted to find some kind of resolution for all the weird symptoms I was experiencing. I worked and I waited for months on end until, finally, on the day of the appointment, it was confirmed at long last that I wasn’t inherently a failure. I wasn’t lazy, stupid, irresponsible and an all-round bad person. I had ADHD. There was a reason for all of this.

“Private ADHD clinics saved me – their demonisation is devastating”