Thinking About an ADHD Evaluation? Read This First

You've wondered for years. Before you book an ADHD evaluation, most testing practices won't tell you this: about half of the adults we evaluate don't have ADHD.

That isn't a disappointment. It's an answer. The adults who don't meet the criteria usually have something else going on, such as generalized anxiety, a depressive episode, untreated trauma, or years of short sleep. Every one of those is treatable. The real risk is spending another two years treating the wrong thing.

If a practice tests for ADHD and finds ADHD every single time, it isn't assessing you. It agrees with you.

Three Questions Worth Sitting With

These aren't a screening tool, but they're where a good clinician starts.

• Has this always been true, or does it have a start date? ADHD is developmental and presents before age twelve. Difficulty that began after a loss, a promotion, or a hard year is telling you something different.
• Is it everywhere, or only at work? ADHD shows up in hobbies, conversations, driving, and the parts of life you enjoy.
• Does rest fix it? Burnout usually responds to real rest. Something wired in usually doesn't.

Six Things That Look Exactly Like ADHD

Anxiety you don't recognize as anxiety, depression, short sleep or sleep apnea, trauma, an undiagnosed learning difference, and medical or hormonal changes can all cause real attention difficulty. None of them responds to ADHD treatment. They also often occur alongside ADHD, so the useful question is which one is driving, and what to address first.

What a Real Evaluation Includes

A six-question screener takes ninety seconds and was designed to flag possibility, not settle it. A comprehensive evaluation measures attention directly, compares your symptoms against norms, screens for everything ADHD gets confused with, and includes a detailed clinical interview. It also gathers input from someone who knew you as a child, because nobody remembers their own baseline.

Nine Questions to Ask Before You Book, Anywhere

Our guide includes a printable list for any provider, including us. Which instruments do you use? Do you measure attention objectively, or only by questionnaire? How do you rule out anxiety, depression, trauma, and sleep problems? And the most important one: what happens if the answer is that I don't have ADHD?

If a provider can't answer these clearly, that is itself an answer.