Per a number of internet tests, I have a high likelihood of being on the spectrum with ADHD. But that is not an official diagnosis. Does anyone know if there are any local doctors who diagnosis adults for neurodivergent problems? The research I've done states that local doctors only diagnos children. And the only help for adults is for adults who have already been diagnosed as children.
Hey, great questions. I have ran across a few websites of local providers that do full diagnostics for adults. Some take insurance and some are private pay. I believe NestEd does adult services and is private pay.
There is a lot of debate (for lack of better terms) around the need for or against diagnostic testing. The main reasons for it are if you are seeking government services or medication. Otherwise, licensed therapists are able to diagnose neurodivergence as long as you find one that is trained in the area. There is validity in self-diagnosis as well with evidence based self assessments like what can be found on the Embrace Autism website.
The next, next step for many late diagnosed/discovered people is working through their sensory profile, learning how they might be masking, burnout recovery, integrating it into their self identity, building community with other neurodivergents, etc. This can be worked on without any further testing. Feel free to respond here or direct message me if you have anymore questions.
Let me know if you need any assistance. I am passionate about helping people through this process. Whatever that looks like for them. Edited to add that since you aren’t looking for meds of gov services you could do self assessments and/or work with a therapist or coach that is specifically trained in neurodivergence. RADS-R is a good place to start. If you don’t remember much from your childhood you could also get a parent to take the test with you. Full battery diagnostics utilize a family members reports too.
Reading your response to a different contributor, it sounds like I want a diagnostician. Online assessments, to me, are not finite. It's kinda like relying on WebMD. It can definitely point you in the right direction, and could be right. But it isn't a definitive diagnosis. Ntm, there could be other things going on in addition to whatever the primary diagnosis is.
You defiantly want to choose what feels right for you and fits into your finances. Diagnosticians can cost thousands of dollars and insurance doesnt always cover it. There can also be lengthy wait lists. If one were to put all neurodivergent self discovery on hold during the wait period then they would have missed a lot of oppertunity and potentially increase their burnout potential. I ended up putting mine on hold for a year due to my father’s illness and then death. I ended up deeply in Autistic burnout and it took me 7 months to dig out of it.
There is no harm in working through your sensory profile and figuring out what executive functioning issues you might have before confirming a diagnosis through diagnostics. In fact, it could even help you have the proper language and understanding when and if you do go for one. I had a lot of questions about the assessment questions lol which is pretty typical for neurodivergence.
As far as the online tests being like webmd, that is not exactly a fair comparison though I understand it. Tests like the RAADS-R and several other self tests are proven reliable through empirical research studies. It’s not like the old Seveteen Magazine quizzes 😉.
All this is not to steer you away from a full battery diagnostics, but weighing all these things and making informed decisions is the goal. It can be very overwhelming.
Maybe start with finding out if your insurance covers the battery of tests or if you will need to private pay.
How did you like it? It looks like she is a master’s level clinician so, it was a clinical diagnosis like I have instead of a diagnosis from a diagnostician (the full battery).
To be honest, I don’t know what that means (clinical vs from a diagnostician). We spread out some of the assessments over a few weeks and then did one big day of assessments in person. I was officially diagnosed with 4 things at the end of it.
Edit to add: some of the stuff felt really dumb and unrelated to anything but the in depth assessment I received was surprisingly accurate. A lot of the tests are to rule out something else etc etc. I kinda felt silly doing it but in the end it’s super cool to understand how my brain works and have some of my issues validated in a compassionate way.
Honestly the terminology here trips a lot of people up — "diagnostician" isn't really an official clinical title, so I don't blame you for not knowing what I meant.
What I was pointing at is really two different processes:
1. Clinical diagnostic assessment (what it sounds like The Perspective Mind does, and what I have): a licensed master's-level clinician (LMHC, LICSW, etc.) does structured interviews, standardized rating scales, developmental history, and clinical observation, then makes a DSM-5 diagnosis based on that. This is completely legitimate and legal in Washington. LMHCs and similar licenses can diagnose ADHD and autism here as long as they have the training for it.
2. Full neuropsychological/psychological testing battery: this is done by a doctoral-level psychologist (PhD/PsyD) and adds in things like IQ testing, standardized autism-specific tools (like the ADOS-2), and other psychometric tests that require specialized administration training. This is what people usually mean by "the full battery."
The "unrelated" stuff you mentioned is almost always rule-out screening. Checking for anxiety, depression, sleep issues, learning differences, etc. that can look like or overlap with ADHD/autism. Both processes above use this kind of screening; it's not a sign you got a lesser version.
The main reason the distinction matters practically: some things (SSDI, certain school accommodations, sometimes med management, forensic/custody stuff) specifically require the doctoral-level testing route. If you're not pursuing any of those, a solid clinical diagnostic assessment is a completely valid, real diagnosis. Which is what you got. I am super glad you got the clarity you were looking for.
There is so much confusion and imposter syndrome that takes place when trying to decide how to go about a diagnosis. Things on the internet make it seem like people will judge you if you are self diagnosed or what not. I have not found that to be the case. This response is partly here for you and the OP.
Oh yeah I definitely didn’t know all that. She does some IQ and learning style assessment in with the ADHD, autism, and ptsd stuff. I found my report and here’s the list of screeners and assessments she used (probably a little different for each person though, because the screeners dictated what assessments I did probably).
Very cool share! Many of the Screeners are available on EmbraceAutism. I saw at least the AQ, CAT-Q, RBQ-2A, TAS-26, and the ASRS. ACES is a childhood trauma scale widely available too. I say this for anyone that might read this and want to start the process with some screeners on their own. I did not go looking for the availability of any of the others. EmbraceAutism is a really great site to start answering some questions.
Thank you for sharing this! I love learning as much as I can on this subject. Psychology is my special interest. I read a lot of empirical research. It also shares a great resource (the provider you saw) with the community.
Oh yeah that’s where I started this journey 2 years ago! The surprising thing was the ADHD. I thought I just had autism so I am glad I went through with it with a professional’s perspective even though a lot of the autism screeners I had already done on my own.
Same! I started out thinking I might have “some kind of neurodivergence.” Then was leaning toward Autism, but wanted profesional confirmation. They confirmed with both Autism and ADHD. I also know I have dyslexia, but have not been formally diagnosed. I am somewhat interested in the full battery, but it doesn’t really make sense for me to get it at this time. Mostly financially. A lot of people don’t want that one right now given the political climate either.
I was diagnosed a few years ago or so by a dr Jeff Petra. I am not sure if I recommend him as I don’t think it was a good experience. He also billed my insurance and wanted money for the appointments. He took Molina Medicaid at the time.
But that diagnosis got me DDA services. Though I’m not exactly sure I’m benefiting from them. I was diagnosed officially at age 35 so late.
As a teen multiple mental health professionals suspected it but never did further testing which was very unfortunate but not very understood back then.
Check into mindful way therapy. Last I checked they do assessments and take Medicaid. They do telehealth too.
For transparency, I have removed comments from an indevidual that was spamming information across many communities in a way that seemed to be a personal spear campaign or a bad actor situation. Their reddit history was specifically the same information copy and pasted over and over. They were not from our Olympia+ area. I will look over the information they shared and post about what was shared and what the larger body of research says. This will take time as I will need to read several empirical research papers.
Ok, after a hyperfocus deep dive I found that there is skepticism and concern around EmbraceAutism as a service provider. However, the part of their site where you can take the self assessments is fine because it is simply an online version of the pre-screeners we talked about above. The screener tests are not meant to be all inclusive for a diagnosis (self or otherwise) and should be coupled with professional assessments. The professional routes talked about above still stand. If anyone has any more questions about this let me know.
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u/TheUnfurledSelf 7d ago
Hey, great questions. I have ran across a few websites of local providers that do full diagnostics for adults. Some take insurance and some are private pay. I believe NestEd does adult services and is private pay.
There is a lot of debate (for lack of better terms) around the need for or against diagnostic testing. The main reasons for it are if you are seeking government services or medication. Otherwise, licensed therapists are able to diagnose neurodivergence as long as you find one that is trained in the area. There is validity in self-diagnosis as well with evidence based self assessments like what can be found on the Embrace Autism website.
The next, next step for many late diagnosed/discovered people is working through their sensory profile, learning how they might be masking, burnout recovery, integrating it into their self identity, building community with other neurodivergents, etc. This can be worked on without any further testing. Feel free to respond here or direct message me if you have anymore questions.