Adult ADHD Evaluations in San Diego, California
Have you been wondering if you have ADHD?
Have you spent years feeling like you should be able to "just focus" or "get it together," only to fall short despite your best efforts?
Do you find yourself constantly forgetting important details, losing track of time, or struggling to complete tasks that seem effortless for others?
Does the mental effort it takes to stay organized, meet deadlines, or manage daily responsibilities leave you exhausted, even when you appear high-functioning on the outside?
You May Be Wondering If There's Something More Going On
Maybe you've been told you're "just anxious" or "too stressed," but something feels incomplete about that explanation.
You might relate to ADHD symptoms when you read about them, yet you've managed to succeed in certain areas of life so you wonder if you're overreacting or making excuses.
You might also be noticing patterns that extend beyond attention: difficulty regulating emotions, impulsive decision-making, chronic procrastination, or just feeling constantly overwhelmed by everything.
High-Functioning Adults Are Often Overlooked
ADHD in adults looks different than the hyperactive child who can't sit still in class.
For many adults, particularly women and late-diagnosed individuals, ADHD manifests as:
Internal restlessness rather than physical hyperactivity
Perfectionism and overcompensation to mask difficulties
Difficulty with emotional regulation, leading to intense reactions or feeling overwhelmed
Inconsistent performance and excelling in areas of interest but struggling with routine tasks
The demands of adult life managing a career, household responsibilities, relationships, finances, and healthcare, all require executive functioning.
Making matters more complex, adults with ADHD often develop anxiety, depression, or chronic stress as a secondary response to years of struggling without support.
An ADHD evaluation can provide you with clarity
Rather than relying on a quick checklist or online screener, a thorough assessment examines the full picture of your challenges to determine what’s really going on
Our ADHD Evaluation Process
Interview
1
At our first appointment, we’ll spend time discussing your challenges, strengths, history, and goals for the evaluation.
Assessment
2
You’ll then complete standardized questionnaires to understand the frequency and severity of your symptoms and concerns.
Guidance
3
We’ll then meet within 2 weeks to review the evaluation results and personalized recommendations included in your report.
What We Evaluate
ADHD is never assessed in isolation. We examine the full picture of how your brain works and what's contributing to your current challenges.
Attention & Executive Functioning
We assess your ability to sustain focus, shift attention, plan and organize, initiate tasks, and follow through on goals. This includes understanding how you manage time, prioritize competing demands, and regulate effort.
Mood & Anxiety
Because anxiety, depression, and trauma can mimic or co-occur with ADHD, we carefully assess these areas. This ensures we're not misattributing symptoms and helps us understand how different factors interact.
Emotional Regulation and Stress
ADHD often affects emotional regulation, leading to intense emotions, difficulty recovering from frustration, or emotional overwhelm. We explore how you experience and manage emotions under stress.
Impact at Home, Work, School
Beyond symptoms, we examine how attention and executive functioning challenges affect your daily life: your job performance, household management, relationships, self-care, and overall well-being.
Adult ADHD Evaluations are Different
Greater Focus on Functional Impact
While childhood ADHD evaluations often center on school performance, adult evaluations prioritize how ADHD affects work productivity, household management, relationship dynamics, financial organization, and self-care.
Consideration of Masking and Compensatory Strategies
Many high-functioning adults, especially women and late-diagnosed individuals, have spent years masking their symptoms or developing workarounds. We assess not just the symptoms themselves, but the exhausting effort it takes to compensate and the toll that effort has taken over time.
Attention to Co-Occurring Conditions
Adults with ADHD frequently experience co-occurring anxiety, depression, trauma, sleep disturbances, or burnout. We carefully tease apart how these factors interact.
Not Sure If an ADHD Evaluation is Right for You?
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Being high-functioning doesn't mean you don't have ADHD. Many intelligent, accomplished adults have ADHD and have simply worked harder than others to compensate. The evaluation will assess not just your outcomes, but the effort required to achieve them.
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That's a valuable outcome too. If the evaluation reveals that something other than ADHD is driving your challenges, you’ll leave with clarity about what’s going on and recommendations for the most effective support.
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Absolutely. Anxiety, trauma, depression, and chronic stress can all impair concentration, memory, and executive functioning. They can also occur together. That's why we assess these areas thoroughly.
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Our adult ADHD evaluations are $2000. We do not accept insurance, but we can provide a superbill for you to submit to your insurance for potential out-of-network reimbursement.
We know this is an investment. Our goal is to provide you with clarity, answers, and a path forward that makes the time and financial commitment worthwhile.
