Formal assessment
Adult ADHD assessment is more accessible than it used to be. UK: GP referral (NHS — wait times can be 1-2 years) or private psychiatrist (typically £500-1500, weeks rather than years). US: psychiatrist or psychologist with adult ADHD experience. Bring your developmental history, school reports if you have them, and ideally a family member who can speak to childhood patterns.
Treatment options
Stimulant medication helps the majority of strong-band ADHD adults substantially. The decision belongs with a prescriber, but worth knowing the effect size is large — most adults who start medication describe the first weeks as one of the most clarifying experiences of their adult life. Non-stimulants are an option if stimulants don’t fit. Therapy and coaching alongside.
Realistic 12-month arc
Diagnosis (3-12 months wait in many systems). Medication titration (4-12 weeks to find dose). Therapy or coaching uptake (variable). Major life decisions usually wait until medication is stable — many adults find their first medicated months reveal which life-and-career choices were ADHD-compensation rather than actual preference.
Getting through the waiting list intact
In England, the Right to Choose route lets your GP refer you to an NHS-commissioned provider with shorter queues — it has cut typical ADHD assessment waits from years to months for many adults, at no cost to you. Ask for it by name; not every GP volunteers it. If you go private instead, check first whether your GP practice will accept a shared-care agreement for medication afterwards — some refuse, which changes the ongoing cost by thousands.
While you wait, three things compound in your favour: a GP letter documenting current impairment (useful for work and for the assessor), workplace adjustments — which never required a diagnosis to request — and the habit of logging concrete incidents as they happen, because eighteen months of dated examples reads very differently from a memory-mined summary on assessment day.
Making the assessment land first time
When strong-band assessments go wrong, they usually fail on childhood evidence, not adult symptoms. Gather it before the appointment: primary school reports (the 'bright but doesn’t apply himself' genre is practically shorthand), a parent or older sibling willing to complete an informant questionnaire or join by phone, and an employment history with dates. If the reports are long gone, report-card phrases relayed by relatives or a teacher who remembers you still count.
And don’t tidy yourself up for the appointment. Masking through an assessment is the most expensive place you’ll ever perform competence — the assessor needs the Tuesday-afternoon version of you, not the interview version. Arrive unrehearsed, bring the file, and let the evidence do the presenting.