What happens in an Adult ADHD Assessment?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a naturally occurring variation in cognitive functioning that affects attention, impulse regulation, and activity levels. While ADHD is often discussed in medical or diagnostic terms, it’s important to remember that it's not a flaw or a failure, it’s a neurodevelopmental difference which has significant strengths when understood and supported.

Why Seek an ADHD Assessment?

Many people seek an ADHD assessment after years of wondering why certain aspects of life, such as time management, organisation, forgetfulness, emotional regulation and anxiety feel more challenging than they do for others. For some, it’s prompted by a child’s diagnosis that sparks personal reflection. For others, it's linked to burnout, struggles in education or work, or a growing awareness through social media and neurodivergent communities.

Seeking an assessment is a valid and often empowering step toward understanding your brain and accessing support and better understanding who you are.

Step 1: Neurodiversity Screening

The first step is to get in touch and we'll discuss what is going on for you and then send over some screening documents. This involves ltos of forms to fill in, which we can send via email or post. Once you return these, we will go through them and let you know if you are meeting threshold for a further assessment. This step is really important as it helps us to rule out other potential explanations e.g., autism and also allows us to gain a comprehensive view of who you are, your mental health and current challenges.

Step 2: Gathering Clinical Information

If you meet the criteria and want to go ahead, we will begin gathering more information. This involves getting information from your parents, partners, friends and family. We also ask for developmental information about you as a young child and if possible request to look at school reports. We will discuss with you who the best informants are beforehand. We will also book in a date for your interactive assessment

Step 3: The ADHD Assessment Itself

An ADHD assessment typically lasts around 2 hours and you will meet with a minimum of two Psychologists who will go through the assessment with you. This involves a clinical interview using validated tools (DIVA-5 for adults) where we ask lot of questions about what life is like for you against a clinical criteria.

Step 4: Diagnosis and Next Steps

Once we have completed your assessment, we hold an MDT (multi-disciplinary team) meeting and in this we pull together all the information from the assessment itself as well as the informant information, developmental history and anything else you have shared with us. We use this alongside the DSM-V-TR criteria to make an informed clinical decision about diagnosis.

If the clinician concludes that your experiences align with ADHD, they will explain this in a clear, respectful way. A diagnosis can be validating, a way of reframing past struggles as differences in brain wiring, not personal shortcomings. There are four possible outcomes of an assessment:

1. No diagnosis given: You are not meeting the clinical criteria and so your experiences may be better explained by something else which will be discussed with you

2. ADHD (Predominantly Inattentive Presentation): This diagnosis captures the specific challenges with attention, organisation, forgetfulness and focus.

3. ADHD (Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Presentation): This diagnosis captures specific difficulties with overactivity, restlessness, impulsivity, risk-taking and fidgeting.

4. ADHD (Combined Presentation): This diagnosis suggests both aspects of ADHD presentations are evidenced and you experience a wider range of symptoms.

   
   

Following diagnosis, we may recommend:

• Psychoeducation: Learning more about how ADHD affects you

• Medication: If appropriate and desired, stimulant or non-stimulant medication may be discussed and we can refer you to some recommended clinics.

• Support strategies: Including psychotherapy, counselling, coaching, occupational therapy, or workplace/school accommodations. This can also support your mental health as well.

You will also be provided with a detailed report outlining the outcome and recommendations that can be shared with a GP, employer etc. When accessing an assessment at All Things Therapy Centre you can be assured that our assessments are neurodiversity affirming, ethical and follow NICE and NHS guidelines for best practice. If you would like further information, please send an email to rachel@allthingstherapycentre.co.uk or contact via the webpage.