Both the psychiatrist and nurse practitioner I saw after seeing Dr. Tran told me that I would be within my rights to report Tran and, based on the things he said to me, he could even have his license removed.
This is the worst type of psychiatrist and he has no business treating patients. His expertise in ADHD is a joke: and he proved that by not only clearly not understanding anything about the disorder (including pushing old ideas that the only sign of ADHD is being a wild, out of control child when even a little bit of research will tell you that is a misconception) but he referred to the medication for it as "legal cocaine" several times. Yet, that's not what makes Tran such a disgrace to his field... no, that's the lying. This was what horrified the other doctors I went to, is that he flat-out lied in order to avoid prescribing medication that he, again, thinks of as "legal cocaine" (which I told him was an unbelievably unprofessional thing to say and completely misunderstanding how medications work). He refused to treat the ADHD until I had a neurological test done (which is not considered very legitimate for ADHD testing by the psychiatric field since it is only "correct" about 30% of the time) and insisted that this was the ONLY way he could determine it. In addition, he continued to suggest that this was because the pharmacist must approve of my medication before I could receive it--which is an absurd idea. A pharmacist has no say in a patient's treatment, at all.
After leaving Tran, I saw two other doctors. Each one, with two different 2 hour consults, were very comfortable diagnosing me with ADHD. It was very obvious to them that ADHD was a very legitimate diagnosis since I fit so many markers, including the comorbidities which plague ADHD patients. I am 30 years old and have struggled my whole life, despite always being considered a "gifted person" because I could never get my brain to just focus and relax to actually accomplish the things I was so "gifted" in. I talked at a 100mph and I struggled to maintain long-term tasks and goals. I had never considered ADHD until my therapist (who I went to for depression and anxiety, believing for many years that I had those) asked me about it at my 2nd session. She picked up on it right away and that was when we went to see Tran together... and he very literally refused to listen to anything I said. I would outline a story for him, give him an example of my life, and he would literally just change it to fit a non-ADHD diagnosis. And then I would correct him and he would just blatantly ignore it. For an example: I explained that I cannot maintain long-term relationships because the pressure of constantly having to keep up with friends or even, sometimes, remembering them can be difficult... and they often become angry or unhappy with me. He told me that, "Sometimes it's scary to meet new people but if we just do it very often, we learn it is not so scary!" (and told me a story about making his young child watch scary movies to prove his point). In addition to the fact that to compare my struggling life, as a 30 year old, to a child's fear of the unknown is completely belittling, it also wasn't what I said. Another example: I told him that sometimes I actually have to wake myself up because I NEED to talk. I will sit in my dark room, angry and tired and wanting to go to sleep, but my compulsion to talk is so strong that I have a full-on lecture by myself because I MUST do it. He said, "Talking to yourself is not a symptom of ADHD..." And refused to backdown on that, continuing to insist that all I said was that I talk to myself, completely ignoring the compulsion in the talking which is the problem.
I have been being treated for ADHD for about 6 months now and my life has never been better. My relationships have improved, my work, my home life, and my academic career have all improved. I have hope for the first time in... forever. I can't remember when the world seemed to available to me, like I have a real chance to reach the heights I always wanted. And you know what Tran said to me? He said that he was "confident" I didn't have ADHD... but he also couldn't diagnosis me with anything else, even though I kept asking him what, exactly, he thought I DID have if it wasn't ADHD. He knew I had ADHD, he just didn't want to prescribe the "legal cocaine" because it is a stimulant and he would actually have to answer for it. If I didn't have a parent with a nursing background and if I didn't have such support behind me (including my therapist), I would have given up. I would have just written it off after Tran said what he did... but I knew this wasn't adding up and his behavior spoke so clearly to something very, very wrong. I would still be struggling and my life would never have changed from being properly treated.
I am not the only person who has had the "cocaine" experience with Tran. He has destroyed lives, undoubtedly. read more
