Do I Have ADHD? What Adults in Singapore Should Know Before Getting Assessed
By Dr. Ong Mian Li | Clinical Psychologist | April 2026
“I always thought I was just lazy. Or undisciplined. Or not trying hard enough. Turns out my brain was wired differently the whole time.”
, A client in his 40s, three weeks after receiving his ADHD diagnosis
I hear some version of this almost every week. A senior professional walks into my office, often visibly uncomfortable, and says something like: “I think I might have ADHD. But I’m not sure. I’ve always done well, so maybe I’m just making excuses.”
Let me tell you what I tell them: doing well and having ADHD are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many of the adults I assess are among the highest-performing people I’ve met. They’ve built entire careers on compensatory strategies, working twice as hard, staying up later, relying on adrenaline and deadlines. The system works. Until it doesn’t.
Why adults are getting assessed now
Singapore is catching up. When I trained in the United States, adult ADHD was already well-established as a clinical reality. Here, it’s still relatively new territory. Many adults grew up being told they were “bright but careless” or “full of potential but unfocused.” Nobody thought to screen for ADHD because their grades were fine.
What’s changed is awareness. People are reading about ADHD on social media, recognizing patterns in themselves, and asking: Is this me?
The answer might be yes. Or it might not. And that’s exactly why a proper assessment matters.
A note on self-diagnosis: I understand the appeal of online quizzes and TikTok checklists. Some of them are genuinely informative. But ADHD overlaps significantly with anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, thyroid conditions, and trauma responses. A proper clinical assessment doesn’t just confirm or rule out ADHD, it maps the full picture so you actually know what you’re working with.
What a thorough ADHD assessment looks like
I should be transparent: I have ADHD myself. I was diagnosed late, as an adult, after years of wondering why certain things felt so much harder for me than for everyone else. That experience shapes how I approach every assessment.
At Lightfull Psychology, an adult ADHD assessment is not a 15-minute questionnaire. It typically spans 2–3 sessions over 2–3 weeks and includes:
- A comprehensive clinical interview, your developmental history, school experiences, work patterns, relationships, daily functioning. I’m listening for themes across your lifespan, not just current symptoms.
- The DIVA 5.0, a structured diagnostic interview specifically designed for adult ADHD, grounded in DSM-5 criteria.
- Standardized questionnaires, including the CAARS (Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scales) and executive function measures like the BRIEF-2.
- Rule-out screening, for anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, and other conditions that can mimic or co-occur with ADHD.
- Collateral information, where possible, I ask for a family member’s perspective on your childhood patterns. This isn’t always available, and that’s okay. If your parents are no longer alive, or estranged, or simply not someone you want in this process, there is a proper way to assess adult ADHD without parental collateral.
The result is a comprehensive written report, not a one-page letter, but a document you can take to a psychiatrist, an employer, or simply keep for yourself as a roadmap for understanding how your brain works.
What I see in my practice
The adults who come to me for ADHD assessment are not struggling in the way most people imagine. They’re not bouncing off walls. They’re:
The senior executive
Managing a team of 50, crushing it at work, but privately spending 3 hours on an email that should take 20 minutes. Their spouse is frustrated. They’re exhausted.
The graduate student
Brilliant in seminars, but their dissertation has been stalled for 18 months. They’ve tried every productivity system. Nothing sticks.
The new parent
Their child was just diagnosed with ADHD, and as they learned about it, something clicked: “Wait, this sounds like me.”
The quiet achiever
Never disruptive, never failing. Just… always feeling like they’re running on a different operating system from everyone else.
If any of these sound familiar, you’re not alone. And you’re not making excuses.
The question you’re actually asking
Most people who Google “Do I have ADHD?” aren’t really asking about diagnostic criteria. They’re asking something more personal: Is there a reason I’ve always felt this way? And if there is, what can I do about it?
A good assessment answers both questions. It gives you language for something you’ve sensed your entire life. And it opens the door to strategies, accommodations, and sometimes medication that can make a meaningful difference.
It also, honestly, provides relief. I’ve watched adults cry in my office, not from sadness, but from the sheer validation of finally having an explanation.
Ready to find out?
A comprehensive adult ADHD assessment at Lightfull Psychology takes 2–3 sessions and includes a detailed written report.
Book a consultationDr. Ong Mian Li is a clinical psychologist at Lightfull Psychology Practice in Singapore. He specialises in ADHD assessment, anxiety and mood disorders, and child and adolescent psychology. He was trained at the Mayo Clinic and holds a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.