Patricia Jean Wangeci Kihoro has recently shared her experience of being diagnosed with ADHD. Speaking on the Engage YouTube page, she encouraged her audience to speak up when they need help.
“Every once in a while, we encounter a crisis of identity, and if you are like me, you’ve asked yourself, maybe once, twice, thrice, who am I? What am I doing, and why? There’s been nothing to draw from. And it’s been something that has been such a defining factor for the last 3 years.”
Before 2020, Patricia was juggling multiple roles as an actress, singer, emcee, moderator, radio show host, and digital creator. “I was really doing just a lot of things. I was very busy. I didn’t feel like I was busy, I was doing a lot, but because of the momentum, I felt like I was okay. But deep down I felt like there was something wrong with me, something broken.”
Despite her busy schedule, she felt something was amiss. “But because I kept myself busy and because the momentum kept me going, I was like oh that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what I feel as long as I’m doing this, and I enjoy this, and people can see that I am enjoying it, and people are feeling it, then everything is okay.”
Then the pandemic happened, and she didn’t leave her house for two months. “I didn’t even leave the house to take the trash out. I didn’t open my door to leave.”
Later, when things started to pick up again, she found that the momentum she had built before the pandemic wasn’t returning. “I was embarking on new frontiers and life, and unfortunately the momentum that I had built up before the pandemic wasn’t picking up.”
By early 2021, Patricia felt like everything was falling apart. “Things were looking up, I was falling apart, I knew that something had to change, I had to seek help because everything that I’ve been doing to keep things together up to this point is not working.”
She sought treatment for issues she had never considered before. “A therapist or psychiatrist was recommended.”
During her first professional assessment, Patricia, who had studied Psychology in University, received a diagnosis she had suspected for years. “The psychiatrist told me, ‘You are typical, you have ADHD.’ So I had suspected over the years I had ADHD, because I struggled to focus.”
Reflecting on the diagnosis, she spoke about the feeling of being broken. “There is so much more that comes with it. I remember the first thing I felt was relief and then grief.”
Patricia’s story highlights the importance of seeking help and addressing mental health issues, and she continues to use her platform to encourage others to do the same.
