Does anyone here have OCD and ADHD? If so, how could you tell you had ADHD and that it wasn’t just avoidance of stressors or compulsions mimicking the same behavior? I have contamination OCD and social anxiety but lately I’ve been questioning if I also have ADHD because I’ve been seeing a lot of mental health pages talking about their experiences with ADHD and I really relate to a lot of their posts. I want to bring it up with my therapist but I didn’t want to seem like I’m shopping for symptoms and he didn’t catch it before when I did the super intensive survey thing before I started my intensive outpatient program. But I am a female in my mid-20s and I was a “gifted-kid” (who is really struggling now) so I don’t know if maybe that is skewing the perception of me. Any advice? I am truly lost here.

I don't know if I have advice but I also have wondered if I have ADHD. I have tons of OCD symptoms and always have but lately have found I have many ADHD symptoms as well. If you don't mind me asking which ADHD symptoms do you have?

A big one I feel is the lack of focus. I’m a chemistry major in college and ever since I had to withdraw from school in 2019 to get help, I had a really hard time jumping back into school and focusing on the work I was supposed to do. Work that I used to be able to do in a couple hours would take me a full day and I didn’t have the same ability to stay on task on one project/assignment. I bounced around and usually never got things done on time. Anymore I don’t even like starting talks because I’m afraid of struggling in them before I’ve even attempted them, which a lot of posts equate to perfectionism, which I am pretty sure I’ve experienced for a long time. I also have a really hard time finding motivation anymore. And that’s motivation for anything. I wanted to go to the store to get a new pot for some plants of mine, something I wanted to do, and still put it off for 3 days. It’s even worse for things I need to get done. I’ll set timers and tell myself that’s when I’ll get up and do something and then I don’t. Everything just feels like it takes a lot of effort. I’ve seen things that say shame is a very common emotion in ADHD, but I know it’s also common in OCD so I’m not as sure about that one. I also have a hard time shutting my brain down. I have to have a tv running at night so I can distract myself from thinking to fall asleep and I am always bouncing back and forth between multiple things in my head. I usually have to be doing something to focus on another, such as scrolling on my phone to watch tv. I guess those are the main things. It’s hard for me to figure out what’s an ADHD symptom because a lot of professional websites just say hyperactivity and lack of focus but I know a lot of people criticize that definition and acknowledge that there are others. I hope that all makes sense. I appreciate the second opinion.