Working with ADHD in adults.
ADHD in adults is often recognised late, and rarely looks like the childhood stereotype. This page covers what it can look like, how we work with it (assessment, therapy, or both), and how to begin.
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What it can look like
ADHD in adults is not a single experience, and it is rarely the picture most people grew up with. For some it is the difficulty starting things that matter while the unimportant gets done, the sense of running high on interest and empty on everything else. For others it is time that slips away unnoticed, a working memory that drops what it was just handed, or an emotional response that arrives fast and takes a long time to settle.
It is also a pattern of doing, not just experiencing. The systems built to keep up. The lists, alarms, and workarounds. The effort of looking like things are under control, often for years, and the tiredness that follows from running and hiding the effort at the same time.
Why it is so often recognised late
The original picture of ADHD was drawn from hyperactive young boys, so quieter, more inattentive presentations were routinely missed. Many adults compensated early, masked the difficulty, and reached adulthood with the pattern never named. The recognition, when it comes, often arrives carrying both relief and grief.
Where it tends to overlap with other things
People often arrive describing ADHD and discover, in the work, that several things are happening at once. Anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, stress and burnout, trauma, autism, and for some people hormonal changes across the menstrual cycle or perimenopause all change how ADHD presents and what helps. Part of a careful assessment is telling these apart rather than assuming.
What it costs to keep carrying it unrecognised
Long-term, unrecognised ADHD is rarely just a focus problem. Over time it shapes work, relationships, self-worth, and the private story people tell about why things have been hard. Many arrive after years of believing they were lazy or careless. Recognising the pattern accurately is often the first part of changing the relationship with it.
How we work
Clarity about whether ADHD fits
A comprehensive assessment with Matthew: a detailed clinical interview, developmental history, validated ADHD measures used as one part of the picture, a review of how things affect work, study, relationships and home, and careful consideration of what else could explain or sit alongside the difficulties. You receive a clear written report and formulation, useful to you and to your GP. If the assessment supports a diagnosis it says so; if it does not, it says that just as plainly.
Building a life that fits how your mind works
Ongoing work with Matthew or Natalia, individually tailored and paced to you. The focus is on understanding your particular profile, building practical scaffolding for time, memory and regulation, and working with what years of self-blame have cost. You do not need a diagnosis to begin, and much of this is useful whether or not you pursue one.
With your GP, if and when you want it
You can see us privately without any GP or specialist involvement. We are always glad to work alongside your GP or psychiatrist if you would like us to, and with your consent we write to them at the points that matter. The choice is yours.
Assessment, diagnosis, and medication: how the pieces fit
A registered psychologist can assess and diagnose ADHD in adults. What a psychologist cannot do is prescribe. Medication is a medical decision made by a doctor. The pathways around diagnosis and prescribing in Australia are changing, and the process varies from state to state, so your GP is best placed to talk you through what currently applies to you. A thorough psychological assessment and report can support that conversation by giving your GP or specialist a clear formulation to work from.
This is the gap our assessment was designed around. Equal Psychology has developed its ADHD assessment protocol in collaboration with consultant psychiatrist Dr Luisa Fernandez, with the aim of ensuring that the information gathered and the psychiatrist report are clinically useful for a subsequent psychiatric assessment. Every assessment includes a report written for a psychiatrist, whether or not you go on to see one. If you would like to, you can see Dr Fernandez as part of the same pathway. That part is optional, and the ADHD assessment page sets out how it works.
Who you would see
Matthew is interested in understanding how a person's whole system works before anything in it is asked to change.
Natalia works to make a first session feel less like an assessment and more like a conversation.
Practical info
Get started →ADHD assessment is a separate, longer process with its own fee: $720, everything included, with no separate charge for the report. No Medicare rebate applies to ADHD assessment. About the ADHD assessment →
Book a Meet and Greet
A free 15-minute call or in-person meeting, no obligation, to see if we are the right fit before committing to anything. It does not use a Medicare session.
Who this work is for
- Adults (18+) seeking clarity about whether ADHD fits, support to live well with it, or both.
- People who want an assessment and a clear written formulation.
- People who want to work individually, at their own pace, with or without a diagnosis.
- People seeing us privately, with or without a GP or specialist involved.
What this work is not
- Crisis support. If you are in crisis, please call 000 or Lifeline 13 11 14.
- A prescription service. Psychologists do not prescribe; medication is a medical decision.
- For people under 18. Equal Psychology sees adults and older adults only.
- A guarantee of any specific outcome, including a particular diagnosis.
Common questions
All ADHD answers →The evidence
The evidence
What this looks like at the population level
ADHD is the most common neurodevelopmental difference, and it is consistently described as under-recognised in adults, particularly in those who did not match the hyperactive-boy template. There are no Australian adult prevalence studies using current DSM-5 criteria, so adult figures are estimated from international data and modelling; the guideline notes this openly.
Therapy and medication as parts of one approach
Current Australian guidance describes ADHD care as multidisciplinary, combining identification, psychological support, and, where chosen, medication, coordinated across a person's GP and, where appropriate, a psychiatrist (Australasian ADHD Professionals Association, 2022). The strongest current synthesis of adult ADHD treatments found medication reduces core symptoms in the short term but, on its own, did not improve quality of life, and concluded the evidence does not support medication as a standalone treatment for adults (Ostinelli et al., 2025). That is the gap a wider approach, including psychological work, is there to address.
Care for ADHD often involves more than one person
- Australasian ADHD Professionals Association. (2022). Australian evidence-based clinical practice guideline for ADHD (NHMRC-approved). https://adhdguideline.aadpa.com.au
- Deloitte Access Economics. (2019). The social and economic costs of ADHD in Australia. Report for the Australasian ADHD Professionals Association. https://aadpa.com.au
- Ostinelli, E. G., Schulze, M., Zangani, C., Farhat, L. C., Tomlinson, A., Del Giovane, C., Chamberlain, S. R., Philipsen, A., Young, S., Cowen, P. J., Bilbow, A., Cipriani, A., & Cortese, S. (2025). Comparative efficacy and acceptability of pharmacological, psychological, and neurostimulatory interventions for ADHD in adults: A systematic review and component network meta-analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 12(1), 32–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(24)00360-2
Resources
See all →General information only. This page is general information about a psychological service, not a clinical assessment, diagnosis, or treatment, and reading it does not establish a therapeutic relationship with Equal Psychology or any of their clinicians. Outcomes from psychological work vary between people and cannot be guaranteed. If you are in immediate danger, call 000, or call Lifeline on 13 11 14.