Complex Psychological & Diagnostic Clarification
When the Diagnosis Isn't Obvious
Not everyone arrives knowing what condition they have.
Sometimes several explanations have been suggested.
You may have been told that you are anxious, depressed, traumatised, neurodivergent, burned out, bipolar, ADHD—or simply “too stressed.”
Perhaps some of those explanations seem partly correct but none adequately explains the whole picture.
That is where diagnostic clarification can be useful.
The question is not always “What diagnosis do I have?”
Sometimes the better questions are:
What is actually happening?
Which difficulties are primary?
Which are consequences of something else?
What has been present since childhood?
What appeared later?
Which problems occur across settings?
Which are specific to a particular relationship, workplace or life period?
What needs treatment?
What might instead require environmental change?
Conditions can overlap
Attention problems can occur in ADHD, anxiety, depression, trauma, sleep disturbance and burnout.
Emotional volatility can occur in several different conditions.
Difficulty concentrating after a head injury is not automatically ADHD.
A highly capable adult can have genuine learning or executive-function difficulties.
Years of compensating can obscure problems that become visible only after demands increase.
Good assessment requires more than finding a checklist that produces a positive result.
What diagnostic clarification may include
Depending on the question, I may use clinical interview, developmental history, symptom inventories, behavioural measures, collateral information, records and targeted screening of relevant differential conditions.
The scope is determined by the question.
I do not believe everyone needs the largest possible battery.
Nor should a clinician pretend to answer a question with tools that are not suited to it.
Limits of my assessment service
I do not currently provide formal IQ testing, comprehensive neuropsychological batteries or full specialist autism diagnostic assessment.
Where those services are required, I recommend an appropriately trained practitioner.
I can, however, identify when those questions appear relevant and incorporate the resulting information into subsequent clinical formulation.
Possible outcomes
A good assessment is useful even if it does not confirm the diagnosis you expected.
The outcome might be:
ADHD appears to be the primary explanation.
ADHD is present, but anxiety or trauma is contributing substantially.
Attention difficulties appear more consistent with another condition.
The available information is insufficient and further specialist assessment is needed.
The diagnosis is less important than a particular functional or relationship problem that can already be addressed.
The purpose is clarity—not accumulating labels.
Fees
Complex diagnostic assessment is scoped according to the clinical question.
A complex ADHD/differential package begins at $2,450.
Other assessments are quoted before proceeding so that you know what is being assessed, what is included and what it will cost.
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