I can fairly say that the last three years of my life have been the most difficult, and part of what I struggle with is the sort of advice that most of the people I know offer me in the name of common sense. What they're saying I can sympathise with, and that's usually that I should 'pull my finger out', 'get my act together' or show some force of character in addressing the problems I’m here willing to attribute to illness. I recognise that ADHD may in some cases serve as an excellent alibi for academic disappointment; the fact I’ve gravitated toward ADHD can seem like an act of bad faith, which makes me feel guilty. I’m hoping you can help me to decide whether or not my case for a diagnosis is reasonable.

Some common characteristics first of all: academically my grades have been excellent all the way through school. After GCSE's I was automatically enrolled in a national group for students that qualify as gifted.

It's fair to put my achievement at school down to an ability to concentrate for long periods of time; I've always been artistic and drawing, painting, writing or playing music are cases where in the past I’ve been able to focus for hours on end. Computer games are another, as well as 'zoning out' and imaginitively cutting myself off from my surroundings in public situations.

I tend to have a few close friends rather than many, although in infant school this wasn't necessarily the case. I remember being outgoing in certain situations; I had a lively sense of humour, acted in school plays; I felt appreciated for both. That tailed off once I moved up through secondary school, and now I generally avoid large social groups, parties and the like.

Although it varies, I'm terrible at small-talk. When I do talk it's stilted, and I'm usually self-consciously 'editing' before I speak. Often this means I say very little, and I've been in situations before where I haven't been able to finish a single sentence. I remember being a morose kid in secondary school, but these speech phenomena have only come about in the past year or so. At worst, I've spent an entire afternoon with a friend lapsing back to the same phrases time and time again: 'Yep, mmm-hmm.'

And this problem’s become a general one, extending over those activities I mentioned as being my most natural pass-times. For a long time I would destroy what I was writing or drawing, and though I've had the technology to do it for a while, I've not recorded a single finished track when it comes to music. Often in the past just the idea of setting to work on such a thing has seemed physically repulsing. Not good: this year at University it's fair to say I've not finished a single essay or assignment, and I’m now here for my summer retakes. I've got this far (and in some cases done very well, despite everything) by handing things in 'as is', in fragments.

It's worthwhile noting that I spend most of yesterday afternoon writing and deleting this thread-starter, but today the whole process has been relatively fluent, so it varies.

A great number of clinical explanations could be offered given what I've written so far. I've been previously diagnosed with perfectionism, anxiety, depression (as have many others)... I've gone through a period of self-harm that contributed to my quitting the first University course I attended in 2006 (a fine art course in which I shied away from making anything). The most recent has been 'obsessional slowness', which as far as I can tell from the title, wouldn't sit to far apart from inattentive ADD.

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