Many adults discover their ADHD late: after a video, a book, their child’s diagnosis, or simply after years of feeling different without understanding why. If you’re asking yourself the question, here are the main steps to getting a diagnosis in Switzerland.
I’m neither a doctor nor a psychologist. This article describes the general process; it doesn’t replace the advice of a healthcare professional.
Why a diagnosis can help
A diagnosis doesn’t change who you are. But it gives you a way of making sense of years of difficulties, it opens up access to treatment, including medication, and it can sometimes lead to adjustments at work or in education. For many people, it’s also an enormous relief: it was never a lack of willpower.
The main steps
1. Talk to your GP
This is usually the starting point. Explain what you experience day to day, how long it’s been going on, and how it causes you problems. Your GP can then refer you to a specialist.
2. See a psychiatrist or a specialist centre
In adults, ADHD is diagnosed by a psychiatrist or at a specialist clinic. The assessment often takes several appointments: interviews, questionnaires, a look back at your childhood, and sometimes input from people close to you. Waiting times can be long, sometimes several months, and vary from canton to canton.
3. Prepare for your appointments
ADHD starts in childhood, even if it’s discovered late. School reports, your parents’ memories or concrete examples from your current life are a great help to the specialist. Note down beforehand the situations that cause you problems: work, money, relationships, organisation, sleep.
4. Check what’s covered
Appointments with a psychiatrist are in principle covered by basic health insurance, after the deductible and co-payment. For a psychologist, the conditions depend on the setting, in particular on whether there’s a doctor’s prescription. Check these points with your insurer and the practice before you start, as the rules can change.
What you should know
An online questionnaire can give you a lead, but it doesn’t make a diagnosis. Other conditions, such as anxiety, depression, burnout or lack of sleep, can look like ADHD or come on top of it. That’s why a thorough assessment takes time.
There are also associations specialising in ADHD in several regions of Switzerland. They provide information, point you in the right direction and sometimes run support groups. Your doctor can tell you which ones are active near you.
And where does coaching fit in?
You don’t need an official diagnosis to start coaching. If you strongly recognise yourself in the way ADHD works, that’s enough for a first call. Coaching doesn’t replace medical care: it complements it, by helping you build routines and tools for everyday life that work with your brain.