Two questions, and two answers.
How does an ADHD assessment actually work, and how do I start one? Adults are being assessed in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. A mid-life diagnosis is common now.
How to get assessed
The full guide: which professional to see, screening versus comprehensive, what to gather before you go, what happens in the room, and what a diagnosis does and does not change.
Read the guide →Get assessed in Canada
Fill in your history with our forms and reduce the costs with your psychologist. Answer at your own pace, then get matched with licensed psychologists in your province. You keep the file.
Choose your province →Who can assess you
Four kinds of professional can assess adult ADHD, and the depth varies a lot. Pick one to see what that appointment usually involves.
Family doctor (GP)
Usually the shortest route and often the first conversation. Expect a brief history and symptom questions. Useful for starting the conversation and for medication, less useful if you need documentation for work or school.
What you need the result for should decide the route. Documentation for accommodations usually means a longer assessment with a psychologist.
What a thorough assessment gives you
Confirmation
Find out whether ADHD is actually the root of the challenges, or whether something else is.
Your own profile
The specific ways ADHD shows up for you, rather than the general description.
Informed decisions
Choices about work, study, and relationships made with real information behind them.
Access to support
The documentation that accommodations at work and school usually require.
A diagnosis can also carry weight you did not expect: stigma, worry, or grief about the years before you knew. That is normal, and it is worth naming before you start.
How to prepare
Accommodations at work, or understanding yourself better? The answer changes the assessment you need.
School report cards, especially elementary, and any previous psychological reports.
When overwhelm hits, what distracts you, what you put off. Medication and substance use history too.
Someone who knew you as a child. A parent, a caregiver, or a friend's parent who paid attention.
What happens in the room
- History taking. A good assessor wants your history in-depth, because that is where the evidence is.
- Questionnaires. Standardised measures the clinician provides, to compare your experience against a known baseline.
- Interview. Twenty minutes for a basic screening, up to three hours for a comprehensive evaluation.
- Cognitive testing, sometimes. Attention, memory, and problem solving, plus academic skills if a learning disorder is in question.
Walk in already understood.
Stop retelling your life story from the beginning. Complete your history before booking with a psychologist, keep the file, and let the first hour with the psychologist start with the interview instead of history gathering.
Pre-assessment is not a quiz, and not a diagnosis. Psychologists conduct their own assessment and set their own fees.