Thanks for the advice, but surprisingly I have actually tried just not having ADD. This simple advice doesn't work very well for me, which is why I'm attempting to pursue medication again. The calendar entry goes off, I try to contact the doctor, maybe they're not in today, it's half way through the work day, I go to set another, I spot an email while I'm doing it and start following up on that, and then 4 months later it never happened.
I'm not suggesting that "try not having ADD", just suggesting you use mechanisms to remind you to do stuff that are persistent and thus work.
No offense, but from what you're saying, it's pretty clear you don't understand how ADHD works. ADHD is a disorder that affects executive function; the whole problem is that the system you're describing will fail for someone with even moderate but untreated ADHD, let alone more severe cases.
Maybe you don't mean it this way, but it's actually rather insulting to say that these mechanisms "are persistent and thus work", or that OP try a to-do list because "it's constantly staring at you until you actually complete it". ADHD means that you can't assume that those systems work, and it means that "constantly starting at you until you complete it" isn't actually a viable solution.
Hence, that's why OP read your post as "try not having ADD", because you're literally suggesting solutions that presume that they not have ADHD in the first place.
To be fair, the article does make the point pretty strongly that it is very hard to separate ADHD from natural variations of attention, concentration etc:
But “ability to concentrate” is a normally distributed trait, like IQ. We draw a
line at some point on the far left of the bell curve and tell the people on the far
side that they’ve “got” “the disease” of “ADHD”. This isn’t just me saying this.
It’s the neurostructural literature, the the genetics literature, a bunch of other
studies, and the the Consensus Conference On ADHD. This doesn’t mean ADHD is “just
laziness” or “isn’t biological” – of course it’s biological! Height is biological!
But that doesn’t mean the world is divided into two natural categories of “healthy
people” and “people who have Height Deficiency Syndrome“. Attention is the same
way. Some people really do have poor concentration, they suffer a lot from it, and
it’s not their fault. They just don’t form a discrete population.
In fact, if you think about it, such interventions are designed exactly to help people with poor executive function, as you say. Assuming that this is basically a description of what ADHD is, I don't see why behavioural interventions can't make a dent in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbMv0UkAswI&feature=youtu.be...
For people with ADHD, its a distraction that's willfully ignored while you're trying to complete one of the other hundred things on your to-do list that are also screaming for attention, most of them in more-urgent-but-less-important ways that this attempt to schedule an appointment with yet another provider who's likely going to make you prove once again that your life is falling apart by jumping through your life story and maybe trying some alternative that makes you ill, cranky, and introduces some sexual dysfunction that gives you one more thing to worry about alongside the thoughts of whatdoigetdonethisweekpleasejustletmecrossoffonethingtoday that you wake up to each morning.
> severe procrastination or complete lack of willpower
This sounds an awful lot like the attribution of a moral failing to people that suffer from an issue with executive function as it pertains to attention. This might be why people keep telling you that you are clearly articulating an inability to empathize. Imagine a mindset in which your fundamental assumptions, which seem self-evident to you, do not apply. If it seems difficult to understand why anybody would want to live that way, congratulations, you've got something in common! Nobody else wants to live that way either—the difference is that we don't have much of a choice, which is why we all have such strong opinions about this topic.
Rational? Far from it. Functional? Nope.
That's why it's a disease but we have medication to treat it.
It's like trying to tell someone that walking is easy, just put one foot in front of the other - to someone with no legs. Unfortunately it's harder to see missing legs for mental diseases.
This is actually a major problem. I was diagnosed with ADD as a child but gave up the medication in my late teens because it had side-effects I didn't enjoy.
Late last year, I thought it might be worth trying it again, maybe with a milder dose. I booked an appointment with a doctor, who referred me to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist told me there was a two week waiting period and that they'd call me back in a few weeks, and never did. It was two months before I remembered to follow it up.
I don't bore you with the rest of the details, but the short version is every medical professional I spoke to (and I spoke to about 5 during this saga) told me to wait and that they would organize something for me, and then didn't. Turns out if you lie to someone with ADD and leave the organization ball in their court like that, they'll never get treatment, because they struggle with the very thing you're asking them to do. It's pretty much the worst thing you can do for them.
Anyway, I've just realized I was planning to talk to the doctor about it again 4 months ago to try to get the ball rolling again. It's Christmas now, they won't be back at work until mid January. I'd better send myself an email, wish me luck.