ADHD test WITH breakdown PLUS tips on answering it #adhd

I go through the official ADHD screener ASRS-5 DSM-5 ADHD test questions, break them down and give some advice on how to answer these questions to give more honest answers.
An online version of this test can be found here:

00:00 ASRS V1.1 or ASRS-5?
01:16 Two Top Tips for answering the questions
02:41 -1. How often do you have difficulty concentrating on what people are saying to you even when they are speaking to you directly?
04:28 -2. How often do you leave your seat in meetings or other situations in which you are expected to remain seated?
06:15 -3. How often do you have difficulty unwinding and relaxing when you have time to yourself?
08:58 -4. When you’re in a conversation, how often do you find yourself finishing the sentences of the people you are talking to before they can finish them themselves?
11:04 -5. How often do you put things off until the last minute?
12:01 -6. How often do you depend on others to keep your life in order and attend to details?

[DuncanCunningham]

I am 49. I had an appointment, 5 days ago, to talk to a counselor. I made a list of all the things that I could think of in the 30 minutes before the meeting, that I could write down, because if I just said them I’d forget more than half. After 8 minutes he stopped me. “These are classic ADHD traits”. I had no idea. All of this time that I’d seen “head” doctors they told me that I was depressed and put me on medication that made me a “zombie” so I stopped taking them and never went back to them. I finally got a correct diagnosis. I started to watch videos and you going through these questions you nailed exactly how my life has been.

I’ve been muddling through conversations and holding my thoughts because it’s rude to interrupt people so to do that I end up either writing it down or just being unable to listen to the rest of their speaking until they stop and then I find that my original response is either right on or off topic.

I thought everyone had this, I didn’t know I was different. But now I’ve found my people. I’m not just a lone weirdo. There are others having a similar experience to me.

I didn’t know that everyone else doesn’t have constant noise going on in their minds.
I didn’t know that others can’t see the obvious problems that I can within moments.
I didn’t know that others don’t feel either completely stupid or a genius depending on their mood or interest.
I didn’t know that others aren’t constantly thinking about solutions to problems they see everywhere.
I didn’t know that others don’t see problems, they are happy with how it just is.
I didn’t know that others can relax and have a quiet brain so they can sleep at night.
I didn’t know it was ADHD
I didn’t know…

[mrsupertash]

Most every time I get a questionnaire now from a therapist or psychiatrist about depression and social anxiety and "please think back over the last 2 weeks, or 6 months how often would you..." I have to preface it with "I am not in any of these situations anymore. I've been avoiding ALL of them for a very long time, so I'm going to answer the questions without the severely dysfunctional coping mechanisms in place." With the first questionnaire from my current therapist, I answered "truthfully", meaning what the questionnaire actually asked. After that I realized this information will be meaningless to her and look like a confident happy person, so I prefaced it with "I'm not in any of these situations anymore, so they don't affect me, BUT exactly that's a significant part of the problem".

[AdelleOverton]

The biggest issue I have with question 2 is that it's ableist.
I'm a wheelchair user. I have no option but to sit....
Excellent video. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and tips on the questionnaire. As a disabled person, I had to use the same strategies when filling out my PIP form.

[stephaniepittaluga]

I realized as I listened to you that I also didn’t know how to answer these questions—made worse by my fear that anyone might think I’m attention or medication seeking—and I also would score a 24.

[allignn]

I wish I had seen this video when I had my ADHD impostor syndrome. The questions seem to follow the "hyperactive narrative" and as an inattentive ADHDer, the questionnaire felt off. It means a lot that someone else pointed these problems out!

[christinae]

This was very helpful!
Very clever to notice the "stupidity" of q3, I've never thought of that, but will surely keep it in mind, and everything else you said! (hoping to be assessed this year)
And q6- that one seems to be straight from a questionnare for children🤔. No one are allowed to help me, I would feel totally worthless then.
One thing I noticed in later years is how the questions in depression "tests" wants one to compare with "before, when you were healthy and living a rather good life" and how much worse you are now. For people like me (I suspect ADHD + other) it has never been "good" so the DIFFERENCE is almost none. So nowadays I always point this out very clearly!

[kylaallen]

I was just diagnosed with ADHD at 62 and when I was given the more up to date questions, I still found I had to look at them through my strategies, or I would have scored very low. It is satisfying to know I applied exactly what you are saying to the screening!

[Akstergrind]

Yes, you're right. The ASRS v1.1 is the form that I filled out at my doctor's surgery last week.
As it was, ALL of my 18 answers were "Very Often" although I downgraded three of them to "Often" so they wouldn't think I'd just gone through and answered them all the same without thinking them through properly.

[jhummelgaard]

Thank you so much! I don't have a diagnosis yet but a very high score on that test. Your video made me even more sure I might have ADD. I would never leave a meeting (or lecture) but just get increasingly uncomfortable. Given a choice of leaving I wouldn't think twice!

[jackdaw]

This is a really fantastic perspective, I've never realized how much I compensate and how much I avoid situations where I don't think I can fit in.

Not to mention, I don't think I realized how much I have kept my friends to people who are either like me or get me. It's been so long since I had to try and fit into a predominantly neurotypical social setting...I think I just forgot 😆

[audreydoyle]

I wrote the questions, with both short and long answers down in my journal so I can possibly show it to my future psych (still in the process of sorting out a mental health care plan with my GP)

1. I find myself daydreaming, and/or a bunch of other co-current thoughts bouncing around my noodle, going on tangents about what they're saying, what they look like, and what I could say, which usually gets broken up and not very well thought out because I'm trying to make myself focus on what they're saying.

2. I wrote in brackets: (or want to leave your seat), because I force myself to stay sitting. Some would say, "then you don't have ADHD, cause if you did, you wouldn't be about to stop the impulse to stand, ". That is a very neurotypical way of viewing getting out of one's seat. It's NOT an impulse, it's the need to be stimulated! To mask, I bounce my leg rapidly, so much so that my classmates used to ask why I was shaking and to stop bouncing my leg cause "it was distracting", well soooorrrry, but staying still distracts me!

3. I feel like a windup toy with the key wound and superglued. And I know the only thing that will "dissolve the glue" is medication. But I'm afraid to ask for an assessment because no one, not my parents, my old teachers from HS, !no one! will vouch for me and agree that I exhibit signs of ADHD, when I'm constantly debilitated, depleted and defeated by the symptoms. People say "you were doing fine, kicking goals at first. What changed?" Or "it's just depression, what do you usually do to get out of this funk?". I wait until I'm not in the luteal phase of my menstrual cycle, as heightened progesterone can intensify ADHD symptoms. Doesn't mean my ADHD just disappears after my period, it's just not as pronounced and doesn't impact my life as badly as the luteal phase does. I used to think maybe I've got mild ADHD, when I first started researching at 15. Then at 19 I though maybe I've got moderate ADHD. Now I think it's actually very severe.

Edit: I did the test, and I got a score of 23. Tell me I don't have it, I dare you world

[mira-wall]

This is really eye-opening, especially for the 3rd question. I thought I was very good at relaxing hahaha

[octopiinthesky]

I just answered most questions with two answers, one with coping and one without. My poor doctor got the papers handed back with a bunch a skribbels, example situations and notes. But the questionear alone was pretty revealing, like "why are they asking for that, isn't that normal?" 😅
My dad took around 6 months to hand his papers in, lost them a couple of times before they eventually ended up in fort of the same doctor who diagnosed me. He already knew what he was in for, my dad has almost 1:1 the some symptoms 😂

[salimawright]

Thanks for making this and getting in depth on those questions and how they apply to more "real world ADHD & coping" situations. I think having a doctor who can do that when screening is extremely helpful, because these questions can be so black and white. For example, leaving and getting up during meetings isn't something many people do even if they attend meetings; a follow-up question I found beneficial was: "how often do you feel on edge or like you need to get out of your seat, or have to be fiddling or doodling (etc).?" That changes how you'd answer the question, because many adults would be more likely to engage in those (either inattentive or hyperactive) coping mechanisms we've developed or learned, rather than getting up during a meeting. The last question is also a tricky one, because while there are some who directly rely on others to help manage their life, there are others who rely on a planner or thousand sticky notes to help manage their life/day and would be utterly lost without.

[lindagreengrass]

Thank you for these tips. I found the questions confusing. I am just thinking about how I may be ADHD at 70 years of age. No wonder things seem so hard all the time.

[carolinevictoria]

FINALLY a video like this 🙏🏻🙏🏻 for years I’ve also found these questions inceeadibly hard to answer, because I have nothing to compare my selv to. It was first when I was employed at a neuropsychological research center, that I realized how “normal” peoples attention worked… and I think that qualitative understanding is sooo important now when trying to answer these questionnaires.
For example: I used to think, that I am extremely great at focusing. So good, that I tune EVERYTHING else out. And so did my parents. Only, I found out that all these things I was “focusing” on was what interested me at the very moment! All the other stuff I was trying to focus on, but ofren failed at, I was called lazy, because “clearly you are good at focusing, but om this case you are not wanting to do it!”….
It wasn’t untill I talked to another mental health professional, who had more experience than me, that I realized, that the focus I was good at was just… hyperfocus… and that “normal people” don’t focus that Way…

A bit long, budt just a qualitative example of, how you can get misdiagnosed, when the essence of the questions and phenomena being investigated… is not at all clear…

Thank you so much!! ❤

[DanS]

This is so well-done, and I thank you so much for sharing your observations and experiences!

[SuperManning]

Very enlightening. I’m kind of old, never been diagnosed, but life was manageable until about ten years ago. At that time I had to retire early due to some health issues. I was a school teacher and although I was always a disorganized mess, I somehow held it together, most likely because of constant due dates and the need for daily lesson plans. But once I stopped having that framework that was essentially managing my life, the bottom simply fell out from under me. I feel like I’ve been in a prison of my mind, with the world crumbling around me. Yet as hard as I try, I just can’t manage get things done nor to move forward at all, in anything. I feel like I’m too old to really go in for testing and treatment. So unfortunately it seems like I’m just running out the clock on my life. It’s a sad end of what was otherwise a pretty good life. I’m not on my deathbed, but it’s hard to imagine starting treatment when I’m also dealing with my other health problems. Your videos have shown me that I’m not just lazy, I love doing things, even difficult things, but I just can’t focus or finish anything. Thank you for this information

[rustreloaded]

Thank you so much for this insight, it's made a massive difference to how I answer the questions as I've sculpted my life so that a number of these questions don't apply to me and I've done so because those situations were excruciating. I've become so accustomed to my reclusive life that although day to day functioning remains uncomfortable and difficult I'd almost forgotten that it was so much worse when I had to attend meetings and deal with colleagues, clents, friends and acquaintances.

[Internalflow]

Yes. I had to tell my assessing dr that we learn a lot of coping skills and masking in school... we learn to develop filters of what we let out... My doctor was like what do you mean? Will telling the feared school bully that he is a pathetic fool seeking attention by trying to make others look bad, got me a smack in the face. So yes, we can learn not to be so open and honest when we get a knuckle sandwich. Its really learning self preservation 😅😅😅
A lot of us ADHD'ers after years of trial and error, learn to be able then think ahead.
"If I say this, they may ABC!"
We learn to read a room, thats how we often know how to finish others sentences or what they are likely to be thinking.
We learn to reword and re-phrase
messages we put across, according to the situation.
This is partly as we also are used to EVERYBODY taking what we say and mean WRONG!
We get used to putting all the details into our explanations, so say a text as we know it sends us NUTS, when people are vague and we have to fish out every detail, without exploding.
So we overexplain everything, overshare everything until we learn "dont be me, dont say F all".... then we are just plain rude.
No inbetweens!
If we mention we are ADHD, thats an excuse and they dont understand and say "we are all a bit ADHD!"
If we dont mention it, they point out our symptoms and quirks, and want us to explain all these behavioural abd social issues which they will label as being unscociable and rude.
Thats not even going into a workplace setting 😂😂😂