Is it just me, or is it ADHD? An honest place to start
Maybe you have wondered for years. Maybe someone you love was just diagnosed and the description sounded uncomfortably familiar. Either way, the question deserves a better answer than a two-minute internet quiz. This page gives you a proper self-assessment built on the same validated screening questionnaires clinicians use, a straight explanation of what a real diagnosis involves, and an honest account of what your results can and cannot tell you.
A screening tool, not a diagnosis. Only a qualified clinician can provide a formal ADHD diagnosis: a GP (in states where the new rules allow), a paediatrician, a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist - and of those, only the first three can prescribe medication. Your answers stay in your browser and are never stored or sent to us. We do not keep your email address either; the site uses it to send your results, and then it is gone.
Sound Familiar?
Deadlines create the focus that the task itself never could, so everything happens at the last minute
Attention drifts. You are in conversation listening, then suddenly you are not, and now you are guessing
A folder of dead productivity apps, each one The Answer for about eleven days
Small admin becomes enormous. Forms, emails and phone calls pile up out of all proportion to their size
The motor never idles. Even resting feels like waiting
You know exactly what to do and still cannot make yourself start. Knowing was never the problem
Recognising yourself in this list is a reason to look closer. It is not a diagnosis, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
What a Diagnosis Actually Requires
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Symptoms since childhood. ADHD does not switch on at 35. A formal diagnosis requires evidence that the patterns were present before age 12, even if nobody named them at the time. This is the requirement many people have never heard of, and it is why this page’s self-assessment asks about your childhood as well as your present.
2
Presence in more than one setting. Trouble at work alone is not enough. The patterns need to show up in two or more areas of life: work or study, home, relationships, friendships.
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Real impact. Not quirks. The patterns must substantially interfere with how you function or how you feel about yourself.
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No better explanation. Poor sleep, burnout, anxiety, low mood, hormones, trauma and other conditions can all produce ADHD-like symptoms. A proper differential diagnosis is complex to perform, and seeks to rule them out rather than talk past them.
The Self-Assessment
Two validated screening questionnaires, taken back to back: one about the last six months, one about your childhood. About ten minutes, roughly fifty quick taps, no typing.
Private by design: your answers stay in this browser window. Nothing is stored, nothing is sent to us. If you email yourself your summary, we do not keep your email address either; the site uses it to send your results, and then it is gone. At the end you get a structured summary - the same ground a specialist covers first - which you can copy or email to yourself to bring to your GP. The summary names both questionnaires so your clinician knows exactly what they are reading.
What Your Result Can and Cannot Tell You
High Now, High In Childhood
This is the combination clinicians look for first: current symptoms at screening level, with evidence the same patterns existed when you were young. It does not diagnose you, but it is a solid reason to book a longer GP appointment and bring your summary.
High Now, Low In Childhood
Your struggles are real, but this pattern says look wider before concluding ADHD. Stress, sleep debt, anxiety and burnout all mimic it closely. That distinction is genuinely useful to your doctor, and it might spare you an expensive wrong turn.
Below Threshold
A useful answer too. It might mean compensations are carrying you at a hidden cost, or it might mean the problem lives elsewhere. Either way, if daily life still feels harder than it should, that is worth addressing on its own merits.
What To Expect If You Seek a Diagnosis
No mystery, no horror stories. Seven cards, click or swipe through at your own pace - this is the road as it actually runs in Australia.
1
Start With Your GP
Book a longer appointment and say plainly that you want to discuss an ADHD assessment. Bring your summary from the tool above - it gives your GP structure instead of a cold start. In Australia the GP is the gateway: a referral to a psychiatrist is what unlocks both the assessment and the Medicare rebate.
2
The Specialist Interview
Expect a structured interview of roughly one to two hours, sometimes spread across more than one session. Every symptom gets asked twice: how it is now, and how it was when you were a child. Concrete stories beat labels, so arrive with examples, not adjectives. The interviewer is building a lifetime picture, not scoring a quiz.
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The Questionnaires
You will fill in frequency-scale questionnaires about the last six months and about childhood. Some of them may look familiar: the self-assessment on this page uses the same instruments many clinics use, which is exactly why your summary is worth bringing - you are not starting from zero.
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Childhood Evidence
Old school reports are gold: bright but easily distracted, talks constantly, could do better if he applied himself. Parents, older siblings and long-term partners all count as evidence too. The assessment needs signs from before age 12, and this is the part that takes longest to gather, so start early.
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The Outcome Conversation
Three honest possibilities: ADHD is confirmed; something else explains the picture better, like sleep, anxiety, mood or trauma; or the patterns are real but sit below the clinical line. Every one of those is useful information, every one comes with options, and none of them ends the road.
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Choosing Your Clinician
Waits for well-regarded psychiatrists can run months, and the right clinician is worth the wait. As of mid-2026 several states also let specially trained GPs diagnose and prescribe, with more states partway there, so ask what currently applies where you live. And judge any online clinic by how thoroughly it takes your history, not by how fast it promises a script.
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Costs, Waits and Rebates
A GP referral attracts Medicare rebates for a psychiatrist assessment, but gap fees and waits vary enormously. Ask both when booking, and ask for the cancellation list - it regularly saves people months. A psychologist can diagnose but cannot prescribe, so if medication matters, a prescribing clinician will usually perform the diagnosis again themselves.
You Do Not Need a Diagnosis To Work With Me
Coaching is not gated behind paperwork. I coach people with a formal diagnosis, people on a waiting list, people who scored high on this page and never went further, and people who simply recognise the patterns and want their life to work better. The struggles are real whether or not a report says so, and the work is the same: building systems, skills and self-understanding that fit the brain you actually have.
If a diagnosis matters to you, pursue it - the road above shows how. But do not put your life on hold for a waiting list.
Fair Questions, Straight Answers
No. It is a screening and self-reflection tool. Only a qualified clinician can provide a formal ADHD diagnosis: a GP where state rules allow, a paediatrician, a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist. What the tool gives you is a structured, clinician-readable starting point - the same ground a specialist establishes in the first part of an assessment.
Two validated screening questionnaires that Australian clinicians use routinely: one covering current symptoms over the past six months, one covering childhood patterns. Your results summary names both in full, with attribution, so your doctor knows exactly what they are reading.
Book a longer GP appointment, say you want to discuss an ADHD assessment, and bring your summary. A high score is not a diagnosis, but it is a legitimate reason to have the conversation, and the summary saves your GP starting from nothing.
It means look wider before concluding ADHD. A formal diagnosis requires childhood onset, and current symptoms without childhood history are often better explained by stress, sleep debt, anxiety, trauma or burnout. Your GP can help untangle which. This is the single most useful distinction the tool makes.
In Australia, yes - a GP referral is required to see a psychiatrist and to receive the Medicare rebate for the assessment. Some clinical psychologists also assess ADHD; your GP can advise the right pathway for your situation.
Increasingly yes, but it depends on your state. As of mid-2026, Queensland and South Australia allow trained GPs to diagnose and prescribe, Western Australia’s program is underway, and New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania are partway through similar reforms. The rules are changing quickly, so ask your GP or check your state health department’s current position.
A clinical psychologist can assess and diagnose ADHD, and psychology assessments are often thorough and excellent. What no psychologist in Australia can do is prescribe medication. If medication is something you want to explore, you will also need a prescribing clinician - a psychiatrist, a paediatrician, or a GP where state rules allow - and they will usually perform the diagnosis again themselves rather than prescribe on the strength of someone else’s report.
A structured clinical interview, usually one to two hours. The defining feature is that every symptom is explored twice: as it shows up now, and as it showed up in childhood. Expect questions about school, family observations, work history and how the patterns affect different parts of your life.
Yes, unreservedly. Coaching addresses how your brain actually works, not what a report says about it. Diagnosed, waiting, undiagnosed or somewhere in between - if the patterns are costing you, the work is available and it is the same work. If you already know ADHD is the explanation and want to measure what it is costing you, the ADHD impact assessment covers functional impairment across seven areas of life and the strategies you use to compensate.
No. The tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is saved on our servers, nothing is transmitted to us, and there is no account or sign-up. If you choose to email yourself your summary, your name, email address and summary are used solely to send that one email. We never share this information with anyone. Ever.
Whatever the Score Said, the Patterns Are Yours To Change
The free discovery call is a short compatibility check: how you work, how I work, whether we would fit. It is not an assessment and not therapy. Bring your screening summary if you like, or just bring yourself.
Full Disclaimer
Screening information only - not medical advice or a diagnostic service. The self-assessment on this page is a screening and self-reflection tool. It is not a diagnostic test, does not constitute medical or psychological advice, and does not replace assessment by a qualified health professional. Only a qualified clinician - a GP where state rules allow, a paediatrician, a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist - can provide a formal ADHD diagnosis. Do not use this page to self-diagnose or to rule out ADHD or any other condition.
Screening scores are probabilistic indicators, not conclusions. A score in any range can coexist with ADHD, with another condition, or with neither. If anything on this page raises concerns about your mental health, speak with your GP.
Information on this page about diagnosis pathways, state prescribing rules, wait times and Medicare rebates is general in nature, current as at July 2026, and subject to frequent change. Always confirm the current position with your GP or your state health department before making decisions.
The questionnaires reproduced within the tool are established clinical screening instruments; full attribution and copyright acknowledgement are displayed inside the tool and on every results summary it produces. They are provided for personal, non-commercial screening use.
Privacy: your answers stay in your browser and are not stored on or transmitted to our servers. If you choose to email yourself a summary, your name, email address and summary are used solely to send that email. We never share this information with anyone. Ever. View our Privacy Policy.
Lighthouse ADHD Coaching is a coaching practice, not a medical service. To the maximum extent permitted by the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2, Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)), Lighthouse ADHD Coaching excludes all liability for loss or damage arising from reliance on information contained on this page.