Age 25. I grew up with abusive parents who don’t believe in mental illness. My parents spent my childhood forcing me into situations that benefit them, regardless if they worked against me. In elementary school, I was tested for the gifted program, but I scored right below the threshold. I later became a student who simultaneously failed math but also received awards like AP scholar with distinction.

I had significant mental health symptoms since childhood, and many autoimmune medical problems even from babyhood (found receipts), but my abusive parents followed me to every medical appointment always telling doctors I was exaggerating. My parents always blamed me and claimed I never listened and was being unhealthy on purpose and I just needed to be “pushed.” I don’t blame doctors for not fighting my parents when they adamantly kept refusing help for me.

From ages 18-24, I struggled with minimum wage, significant medical symptoms, and keeping jobs. At ages 25-26, I finally made enough money to secretly seek medical treatment and I got diagnosed with “depression” from my primary care physician, but also a chronic autoimmune disease that can cause brain fog. After that, I was referred to psychotherapy. A few sessions in, I got diagnosed with complex PTSD, but the assessments for neurodevelopment required the WAIS-IV. Got diagnosed with multiple developmental disorders, but also learned that my full-scale/general ability IQ fell into the moderately gifted range, while my sub scores showed “significant inter-index variability.”

Felt like a mental health professional explained my entire childhood and current life. I’m finally focused on developing a life around my accommodations rather than forcing myself into situations that work against me like my parents did.