[bamboofish]

I am a college student. All my life I have had difficulty with listening to other people and following directions. I have been argumentative since elementary school and have had difficulty dealing with authority. I have also have intense mood swings. However, my grades have always been good. Since I entered high school, my mood swings have intensified and I have experienced a lot of depression. The depression seems pointless to me, I feel like I have nothing to be depressed about, yet still I am depressed. I have always thought of myself as very high strung, but now I'm wondering if its something more. My mom was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. When I was in high school, she told me that I was a lot like her in that I couldn't focus when people spoke to me or follow directions. She told me that she suspected I had some form of ADD. However, she also told me that that was why she yelled at me so much when I didn't pay attention, because she didn't want me to turn out like her. My mom is the type of person to suppress something because she doesn't want to accept it. I know she doesn't want me to turn out like her, so she is refusing to accept that I might have the condition she has struggled so much with. But I am done with living like this. I am sick of being depressed and irritable, sick of being outrageously happy one second and miserable the next. Do I have ADHD? If so, I'm ready to get help, because I don't want to live like this forever. But I'm not sure how to go about asking for it. I'm afraid to talk to my mom, because how would I even approach a subject like that? I don't want her to think I'm trying to make up problems for myself. I just don't want to suffer from such mood swings any longer.

[Wondergirl]

If you are in college, there are counselors available to you. Make an appointment with one of them and begin working on yourself.

[Fr_Chuck]

And since you are an adult, you may seek out your own medical professional for evaluation