![]() ![]() Instead, expert providers must look at a patient’s symptoms and how these symptoms are interfering with his or her life. There is no one x-ray, MRI, or lab test that will definitively let your provider know that you have adult ADHD. When I’ve had new patients from El Paso, TX, or other areas around New Mexico seeking treatment for what they think might be ADHD, they’ve sometimes asked me, “How can you really tell I have ADHD?” or “Is there a test for ADHD? If so, how accurate is it?”Īs is the case for other behavioral health disorders, such as depression or generalized anxiety disorder, there is no universal test to diagnose adult ADHD. But you might be wondering how adult ADHD is even diagnosed. ![]() Maybe you’ve watched a YouTube video or a TikTok about living with ADHD and thought, “Hey, that sounds like me!” You’re seriously considering whether or not you’d like to seek treatment for the symptoms that have interfered with your work or school life for years. You’ve talked to your cousin in El Paso who was diagnosed with Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This is what we strive to do at Cashman Center… contact us today for more information about ADHD evaluation for adults.Medically Reviewed by Tanya Hernandez, PMHNP-BC To sum up: Although there may be other ways nowadays, a psychological evaluation remains the best way to diagnose ADHD in adults and create a customized plan that works best for that individual. There are different tests and methods that need to be utilized with children versus adults, and specialized training and experience matters in terms of the quality of the evaluation your child receives. There is value to psychological testing beyond the scores that it yields.įor the record, children suspected of having ADHD should always receive an evaluation by a psychologist with experience and expertise in evaluating and diagnosing children and adolescents. Based on patient feedback, the process of reviewing personal history in depth and completing tests of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning often translates into feeling deeply heard and understood for the first time ever. The evaluation itself can be a therapeutic experience for the person completing it. One way to minimize these dangerous practices is to do everything possible to prescribe stimulants only to those who truly have a diagnosis of ADHD. It is well-known that the medications that are most often prescribed for the treatment of ADHD, stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall, can be obtained illegally or through others with the diagnosis (i.e., college students sharing their meds with friends). Stimulant medications can be abused and misused. It is best practice to have a professional who understands the relationships between these issues on board to recognize and parse these things out. Adults with ADHD are at increased risk for these and other mental health issues that also cause executive function deficits and real-world impairment. Untreated ADHD often leads to the development of additional issues, such as mood disorders (anxiety and depression) and substance abuse, which then further complicate the clinical picture. Diagnosing ADHD is not as simple as running through a checklist of symptoms you come across on the internet. Psychologists train for years at the graduate level to understand how to accurately diagnose ADHD and rule out other potential causes. There are also a number of other mental health and social/environmental problems that cause difficulties with attention and focus. It has complex presentations, and different degrees of severity. It’s a disorder characterized by certain combinations of executive function deficits that cause real-world impairment. ADHD, or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, is one of the more challenging diagnoses to determine, for a number of reasons.
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