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Dr. Marie Claire BourqueMD · FRCPC · Adult and sport psychiatry

Adult psychiatry, by referral · online · British Columbia

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Assessment information · step 5

What an adult ADHD assessment involves

An assessment looks at your history, your symptoms and how they affect your life. Questionnaires can help, but they cannot establish a diagnosis on their own.

Dr. Marie Claire Bourque provides one-time adult ADHD assessments, with a written report and treatment recommendations. Given the current waitlist, routine ongoing psychiatric care is not included.

You must have a referring physician or nurse practitioner who remains responsible for your ongoing care, including reviewing the recommendations with you and arranging appropriate treatment and monitoring.

How the assessment comes together

What the assessment considers

  1. Your history

    Symptoms, development, mental health and functioning across childhood and adult life.

  2. The effect on daily life

    How the pattern affects important areas of life and whether it appears across settings.

  3. Alternative explanations

    Sleep, mood, anxiety, trauma, substance use, physical health, learning differences, environment, and other relevant factors.

  4. Conditions that occur together

    More than one condition may contribute to your difficulties. Recommendations need to account for the full picture.

  5. Limits of tools

    Questionnaires and digital tools can organize information; they do not replace clinical judgment.

Clinical formulation

The psychiatrist considers information from more than one source and brings it together into a clinical formulation: an explanation of your difficulties, the factors contributing to them and what that means for care.

Written report

After an assessment, you receive a written report explaining the findings and recommendations.

You must have a referring physician or nurse practitioner who remains responsible for your ongoing care, including reviewing the recommendations with you and arranging appropriate treatment and monitoring.

The conclusion may be:

  • ADHD
  • Another explanation
  • Both
  • Neither

Public educational information cannot determine the answer for an individual.

A score can inform an assessment. It cannot replace one.

Why a full assessment matters

Adults often seek assessment after years of difficulty with starting tasks, organizing tasks, estimating time, shifting attention, regulating effort, or following through consistently. The pattern can affect work, education, relationships, finances, sleep, and day-to-day responsibilities. It may look inconsistent: intense focus in one setting and real difficulty beginning in another.

Those experiences can occur with ADHD, but they can also be shaped by anxiety, depression, trauma, sleep problems, substance use, medical conditions, learning differences, chronic stress, or more than one factor at once. A screening score alone cannot sort that out. The assessment looks at your wider history and circumstances, how you are functioning, other possible explanations and conditions that may occur together.

The aim is to understand what explains the difficulties you have experienced over time and what may help. ADHD may be part of that explanation, but the assessment may identify another condition, more than one condition, or no ADHD diagnosis.

How assessment starts

A referral from a clinician comes first.

Referrals are open through Practice Better. Patients cannot self-refer. Never send personal health information through this website or ordinary email.

Physicians and nurse practitionersAdult ADHD assessment referralFor BC residents ages 18–65 who are in British Columbia for virtual care; covered by MSP for eligible residents. A named physician or nurse practitioner is responsible for the referral; authorized clinic staff may submit on that clinician's behalf. Submit the Practice Better form electronically. Fax and other submission methods are not accepted for this referral.Open the referral form ↗PatientAsk your clinician about assessmentThe patient page explains the steps and includes words you can use to start the conversation.Open patient information →

Questions

Referral and service questions.

Can a questionnaire diagnose ADHD?

No. Questionnaires can help, but diagnosis requires a clinical assessment of your history, symptoms and how they affect your life in different settings. It also considers other explanations and conditions that can occur together.

How long does the assessment take?

Appointment lengths are not listed here. If the clinic has already sent you appointment instructions, follow those.

Who looks after my care after the assessment?

You must have a referring physician or nurse practitioner who remains responsible for your ongoing care, including reviewing the recommendations with you and arranging appropriate treatment and monitoring.

Does assessment always lead to an ADHD diagnosis?

No. The conclusion may be ADHD, another diagnosis or explanation, co-occurring conditions, or no ADHD diagnosis.

If the need is urgent

Do not wait for this website or a referral. If you are in immediate danger or need urgent medical support, call 9-1-1. If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8. Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This website and its forms are not monitored for urgent or crisis care.