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References: Getting A Diagnosis

  1. DSM-5 - Wikipedia - The diagnostic manual behind every evaluation this chapter describes: history, structure, and the revision process that shaped ADHD's criteria.

  2. Psychological evaluation - Wikipedia - What formal psychological assessment involves — interviews, standardized instruments, collateral data — matching this chapter's anatomy of an evaluation.

  3. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - Wikipedia - Includes the diagnosis section covering criteria, differential diagnosis, and assessment debates this chapter turns into consumer skills.

  4. Taking Charge of Adult ADHD (Second Edition) - Russell A. Barkley - Guilford Press - Barkley's step-by-step walkthrough of what a legitimate adult evaluation contains — and his insistence on collateral informants and childhood evidence — set the template this chapter's evaluation anatomy follows.

  5. Driven to Distraction (Revised Edition) - Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey - Anchor Books - Hallowell and Ratey popularized diagnosis-as-explanation: their case-story method showed a generation of readers what recognition feels like and why a name changes a life story, anticipating this chapter's "what a diagnosis means."

  6. Diagnosis of ADHD - NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health - Federal guidance on how ADHD is identified in children and adults and who can evaluate.

  7. About ADHD - Overview - CHADD - Includes evaluation guidance and clinician-finding resources from the national resource center.

  8. NICE Guideline NG87 - National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (UK) - The UK's evidence-based clinical guideline for ADHD diagnosis and management — a rigorous non-US benchmark for what thorough practice looks like.

  9. CADDRA - Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance - Canadian clinical practice guidelines and assessment toolkits, including the rating scales evaluators actually use.

  10. ADHD Resource Center - American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Professional-body FAQs on evaluation, diagnosis, and finding qualified clinicians for children and teens.