Pursuing a Neurodiversity Diagnosis in Adulthood: ADHD, Autism, and AuDHD

There has been a significant increase in the number of adults seeking neurodiversity assessments for ADHD, autism, or AuDHD (ADHD and Autism). You may have been managing difficulties that have never quite been adequately explained, for a significant period of time.

You may have received mental health diagnoses that only felt partially relevant, or have been managing a persistent sense of being wired differently from those around you. You may also have experienced a growing recognition (often prompted by reading, or consuming social media, or by a family member’s diagnosis) that what you have been experiencing may have a name.

 

Why so many people are seeking diagnosis in adulthood

Pursuing a diagnosis as an adult is a meaningful step. Increased public awareness of how ADHD and autism present (particularly in women and in people who have masked effectively) has meant that you may be recognising yourself in descriptions that were not available to you earlier in life.

The diagnostic criteria themselves have also evolved. What was missed in childhood, or dismissed as anxiety or personality, is now more likely to be identified and acknowledged.

It might be that a life stage transition (such as leaving education, a change in structure at work, a new relationship, parenthood, or perimenopause which can significantly affect executive function) has brought previously managed difficulties to the surface.

 

What the assessment process involves

The route to diagnosis in the UK varies. NHS waiting lists for adult ADHD and autism assessments are currently lengthy in most areas. Private assessment is faster but can carry a significant financial cost.

There is no right or wrong way to proceed. Some people pursue a formal diagnostic assessment while others feel that this is less necessary for them. Some find that workplace or educational support lies on the other side of a formal diagnosis, and pursue one with this in mind. For others, exploring the things that help and hinder their everyday lives, while growing their ability to advocate for themselves in the workplace, in education, and in relationships, is sufficient for them.

A good assessment will take a detailed developmental history going back to your experiences in childhood and education, consider how your difficulties present across different contexts, and take seriously the way that masking may have obscured the picture over time. You can be asked to complete questionnaires. School reports and input from family members can also be requested as part of the assessment process. This is to gain a sense of the pervasive and enduring nature of your experiences. Overall, the assessment process should feel like you and your experiences are being properly seen and heard, rather than simply being measured against a checklist.

 

ADHD, Autism, and AuDHD — what distinguishes them

ADHD primarily involves differences in attention regulation, executive function, and impulse management. Autism primarily involves differences in social communication, sensory processing, and the way that patterns and predictability function in daily life. AuDHD (the co-occurrence of both) is more common than was previously recognised, and can present in complex ways, since the two presentations can interact and sometimes partially mask each other.

All three are neurodevelopmental conditions, meaning they reflect differences in how the brain is organised, rather than deficits. That framing matters, both clinically and in terms of how you relate to your own experiences.

 

The psychological experience of seeking a diagnosis

Seeking a diagnosis in adulthood can bring up a complicated mixture of feelings. There is often hope that an explanation will finally make sense of a history that may have been confusing or painful. There is sometimes grief for the years spent not knowing, for the self-blame that accumulated in the absence of understanding. There is occasionally ambivalence or fear about what a label means, about how it might change how others see you, or about whether you want an identity organised around a diagnosis.

 

What therapy can offer

Therapy can offer a useful space alongside the diagnostic process. To prepare for it and process the results and to also explore what the assessment process means to you, and those in your life.

Therapy can support you in integrating a new diagnosis into your identity, and making sense of what this means to you and the different areas of your life going forward.

If you are at the beginning (or somewhere in the middle of) the assessment process, or have recently received a neurodiversity diagnosis in adulthood, you may find that therapy provides a useful opportunity to explore your experiences.

Dr Erin Reid is a counselling psychologist offering online therapy to individuals, couples, adolescents, and families across the UK and internationally, and 'Walk and Talk' therapy in Northwest London green spaces. Visit drerinreid.com to find out more.