Helpful Resources

01

Assessments

• Try before you buy. Before I was formally diagnosed with ASD, I told people I probably have autism. Their response (ranging from supportive to duh) nudged me to do a diagnosis.

• Don’t splurge. Columbia did my formal ASD diagnosis locally and they also do ADHD. I was not wowed by their methodology or insights, but they do check the diagnosis box.

• When Traits > Diagnosis. If you don’t need a medically-authorized diagnosis, many find it helpful to understand their traits with a neuroinclusive assessment. Also known as an indicative diagnosis for transdiagnostic mapping, one of the best I’ve seen is out of the UK and called DoIt!

• There are no standard diagnosis tools but a number are built on the DSM framework. Here is a self diagnosis tool for ADHD.

• For an official diagnosis, see a psychiatrist with specialization in neurodiversity or adult ADHD. There were many, many generalizations made by medical professionals that I found irrelevant and sometimes offensive. Some psychiatric firms are trying to jump on the bandwagon to increase prescription revenue without the training or awareness required to assess an ADHD diagnosis or provide holistic care.

• Biomarkers are being discovered and there may soon be a biological assessment for ADHD (link 1) (link 2)

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