💔 To Every Provider Who Still Thinks They Know Better Than Their Patient

I can’t count how many women I’ve seen who come to me not knowing they have ADHD.

They show up with depression. Exhaustion. Shame. Hopelessness.

They’ve been through medication after medication—SSRIs, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics—sometimes even ECT.

And still no one asked, “What if your brain was never the problem? What if the world just kept trying to force you into a mold you were never built for?”

These women are not rare. They are the norm.

They’ve been dismissed, overmedicated, misdiagnosed, and worst of all—not believed.

They tell their providers that something still doesn’t feel right, and they’re told to give it more time

They say “this med makes me worse,” and they’re told “it must be your disorder talking.”

They beg to be heard, and get labeled as noncompliant.

Let me be clear: Being forced through endless medication trials without choice, without consent, without curiosity—is not care. It is trauma.

We must do better.

If you are a provider reading this, I’m asking you—no, I’m calling you in.

We ethically must believe the lived experiences of the people we serve

.It is dehumanizing to interrogate someone’s suffering. It is arrogant to assume we are the expert on someone else’s life.

And if you believe your patients lie to you all the time?

Maybe it’s time to ask yourself why.

Maybe it’s not that they’re manipulative.

Maybe they’ve just learned to hide from a system that pathologizes their truth.

Maybe it’s not the patient.

Maybe it’s you.

Let’s stop the harm. Let’s stop assuming. Let’s start listening.

We are not here to fix people—we are here to honor them.

Start there.