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Welcome to the Guardian Long Reed, showcasing the best long-form journalism covering culture, politics and new thinking.

For the text version of this and all our Long Reed, go to the Guardian.com forward slash Long Reed. A diagnosis can sweep away guilt. The delicate art of treating ADHD by Jack Goulder.

Names and some identifying ADHD by Jack Goulder.

Names and some identifying details have been changed. Late last summer in the waiting room of a children's mental health clinic, I found Daniel, a softly spoken 16 year old boy flanked by his parents. He had been referred to the clinic for an assessment

for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. As we took our seats on the plastic sofas

in the consulting room, I asked him to tell me about the difficulties he was having.

Tentatively, his gaze, not leaving the floor, he started talking about school, about how he was finding it impossible to focus and would daydream for hours at a time.

His exam results were beginning to show it too, his parents explained, and ADHD seemed to run in the family. They wanted to know

more about any medication that could help. I had just begun a six month

placement working as a junior doctor in the clinic's ADHD team.

Doctors often take a temporary post before they formally apply to train in a specialty. Since medical school I had always imagined I would become a

psychiatrist but I wanted to be sure I was making the right choice. Armed with a

textbook and the memory of some distant lectures, I began my assessment, running

through the questions listed in the diagnostic manual.

Are you easily distracted?

Do you often lose things? Do people say you talk excessively?

He answered yes to many of them. Are you accident prone?

...