Do I need a therapist or a life coach?

In My Humble Opinion
1

As you may or may not know, I’m an unemployable loser. A while back, at the age of 24, it was determined that I’m ADD. That’s ADD, not ADHD, hence my going that long without raising any real suspicions. I did okay in school, but only because of my ability to retain information. I more-or-less never studied, and if a paper or project was required, then it wouldn’t get done. I turned in exactly one term paper on time in my entire undergraduate career.

The I started taking Ritalin, which worked wonders. I’m not on that anymore, but instead a new drug Straterra. Since starting taking drugs for it, I managed to go to graduate school and flunk out of a Ph.D. program in economics because even though I could pay attention much better, I still simply cannot get my act together. (That’s how I learned that I am smarter than I thought I was: I took my two qualifying exams with almost no studying and decided that if I pass them both, I must be some sort of freakin’ genius. I passed one. No genius, but not a complete moron.) I also flunked two actuarial exams simply because I can’t make stuff happen. I can’t study. Go to the top of a building, jump off, and then flap your arms and try to fly–that should be about what it feels like to be me.

Now I’m basically in a holding pattern where every day begins with a string of obscenities as I realize that yes! another god-damn day is upon me. I can’t get myself fruitfully involved in the job market because of my sincere belief that I have better odds of winning a lottery than gaining the sort of employment that won’t have me suicidally bored within a week. I’m basically a lump, living off the largesse of my family.

I can do very short-term things like annoy people on the SDMB. And once in a great while I’ll actually be able to apply for a job, but it’s pretty rare.

I can’t take it anymore, and mentioned to my mom, who is a nurse in the mental health field, that I’m thinking some sort of non-drug therapy is going to be needed. She suggested a “life coach”. I’m just not sure. My experience with coaches in the past hasn’t been very good. I used to ski and my ski coaches really never seemed to be that helpful. I don’t know.

Anywho, that’s my story. If you have experience or knowledge from which you can offer an opinion, please chime in.

2

Well, and the downside of trying this is what, exactly? If it doesn’t help you’ll be no worse off than you were before. Maybe insurance will even cover it. It actually sounds like you might need a therapist, but maybe a “life coach” is just a specialised kind of therapist. I’d suggest try both and see which one fits best.

Good luck.

3

Have you tried contacting the Michigan State Office of Vocational Rehabilitation? They may have some help for employment or further education to do a specific job.

Your easy retention of information makes me think that you might offer your services to writers and geneologists who need researchers. You would be your own boss, essentially.

My heart goes out to you. If I were in your shoes, I would see a psychiatrist – at least for a brief period of time – because she or he is a medical doctor and would be able to take into consideration physical causes. Also, you will want to know if you have other problems in addition to the ADD. For example, you might have a problem with clinical depression. (I’m not a doctor and not saying that you do.)

Sometimes a psychologist works with a psychiatrist so that you can get medications (if you need them) along with a different level of therapy.

I thought of myself as a loser when I was about your age. I had no idea how much of my opinion of myself was related to my brain chemistry. I’ve gone on to have a career and a grand time of it – as long as I take my meds.

This is not your fault, friend.