The ADHD Map
ADHD rarely shows up as one isolated problem.
Start from something you actually experience, in your own words. The map shows what it may connect to, what commonly appears alongside it, what may help and where to get support.
Starting from an experience
Medication and treatment conversations
What titration, monitoring and shared care mean, and which questions belong with a prescriber.
01
What you’re experiencing
Medication and treatment conversations
02
What it may connect to
Titration and monitoring, Sleep difficulty, Myths and terminology, Everyday ADHD language
03
What may help, and where next
Getting assessed in the UK, Support that is not medication, The GP conversation
Start with these
The most useful connections first
What this most likely connects to
Concepts that describe the experience. None of this identifies what is happening for you.
Titration and monitoring (Source)
Titration is the monitored adjustment of a prescribed medicine, followed by review. Guidance sets out what should be monitored and how often.
Myths and terminology (Our note)
Single-chemical explanations of ADHD circulate widely and are not how treatment decisions are made.
Everyday ADHD language (Our note)
Titration, shared care and monitoring are specific words with specific meanings. Knowing them makes the appointment easier.
What may be worth trying now
Things people commonly find useful. Not treatment.
Support that is not medication (Source)
Medication is not the whole of ADHD care. UK guidance includes non-pharmacological support, and the adult psychological evidence base concerns CBT-based approaches.
What to understand next
Including the things that can look like this and are worth ruling out.
Sleep difficulty (Source)
Sleep is one of the things prescribers ask about and monitor, and sleep difficulty is commonly reported in ADHD independently of medication.
Myths and terminology (Our note)
Single-chemical explanations of ADHD circulate widely and are not how treatment decisions are made.
Everyday ADHD language (Our note)
Titration, shared care and monitoring are specific words with specific meanings. Knowing them makes the appointment easier.
When professional support may be appropriate
Nothing here is a diagnosis. A qualified professional is the only route to one.
The GP conversation (Source)
Shared care is an agreement under which a GP may continue prescribing after specialist initiation and stabilisation. A GP may also decline it.
Everything below is the same set of connections in full, grouped by the kind of relationship.
May connect to
Titration and monitoring
ADHD concept · Source
Titration is the monitored adjustment of a prescribed medicine, followed by review. Guidance sets out what should be monitored and how often.
The monitored process of adjusting a prescribed medicine, and the reviews that follow it. Prescriber territory.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That medication should be initiated and adjusted with monitoring and review as set out in guidance.
- Sources
- NG87 recommendationsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authorityNG87 evidence reviewsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Guideline evidence review · UK · UK clinical and official authorityEvidence-based guidelines for the pharmacological management of ADHDBritish Association for Psychopharmacology · Expert consensus statement · 2014 · UK · Specialist studies, consensus and professional guidance
- What this does not prove
- Which medicine or dose suits any individual. This site never advises on either.
- Our confidence
- Well established in guidance · last checked September 2026
Getting assessed in the UK
Assessment and support · Source
Prescribing follows a diagnosis made after full assessment, and is normally initiated by a specialist.
GP referral, Right to Choose and private routes, and what an assessment involves.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That diagnosis precedes ADHD treatment decisions and that medication is initiated within specialist care.
- Sources
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87)National Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authorityNG87 recommendationsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authorityADHD in adults: good practice guidance (CR235)Royal College of Psychiatrists · Clinical guideline · 2023 · UK · UK clinical and official authority
- Our confidence
- Well established in guidance · last checked September 2026
Commonly described alongside
Sleep difficulty
Related pattern · Source
Sleep is one of the things prescribers ask about and monitor, and sleep difficulty is commonly reported in ADHD independently of medication.
Late nights, a mind that speeds up in the quiet, and mornings that cost more.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That sleep differences are reported in adults with ADHD at group level, and that monitoring during treatment is part of UK guidance.
- Sources
- Sleep in adults with ADHD: systematic review and meta-analysis of subjective and objective studiesDíaz-Román A and colleagues · Systematic review or meta-analysis · International · Systematic reviews and meta-analysesNG87 recommendationsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authority
- What this does not prove
- Whether any sleep change you notice is caused by a medicine. That is a prescriber question.
- Our confidence
- Reasonably supported · last checked September 2026
May help with
Support that is not medication
Assessment and support · Source
Medication is not the whole of ADHD care. UK guidance includes non-pharmacological support, and the adult psychological evidence base concerns CBT-based approaches.
Psychological therapy, practical strategies, environmental change and coaching — four different things.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That non-pharmacological support is part of ADHD care, and that reviews of CBT-based support for adults report group-level benefits with heterogeneity.
- Sources
- NG87 recommendationsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authorityThe efficacy of CBT for adults with ADHD: systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTsYoung Z, Moghaddam N, Tickle A · Systematic review or meta-analysis · International · Systematic reviews and meta-analysesCognitive behavioural therapy for ADHD in adults: systematic review and meta-analysesJensen CM and colleagues · Systematic review or meta-analysis · International · Systematic reviews and meta-analysesA meta-analysis of the intervention effect of CBT on adult ADHDRen Y and colleagues · Systematic review or meta-analysis · 2025 · International · Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- What this does not prove
- That any specific therapy will help you, or that it substitutes for a prescriber conversation.
- Our confidence
- Reasonably supported · last checked September 2026
Learn more
Myths and terminology
ADHD concept · Our note
Single-chemical explanations of ADHD circulate widely and are not how treatment decisions are made.
Laziness, “everyone’s a bit ADHD”, growing out of it, and what the informal words actually mean.
Everyday ADHD language
ADHD concept · Our note
Titration, shared care and monitoring are specific words with specific meanings. Knowing them makes the appointment easier.
“Task paralysis”, “time blindness”, “hyperfocus” — useful shorthand, none of it diagnostic criteria.
Where to get support
The GP conversation
Assessment and support · Source
Shared care is an agreement under which a GP may continue prescribing after specialist initiation and stabilisation. A GP may also decline it.
The first step on most UK routes: a described pattern, examples from more than one setting, and real impact.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That continuing prescribing in primary care follows specialist initiation and stabilisation under a shared-care arrangement.
- Sources
- NG87 recommendationsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authorityADHD UK FAQADHD UK · Practical guidance · UK · Trusted UK practical and pathway guidance
- What this does not prove
- That any GP practice will agree to shared care.
- Our confidence
- Reasonably supported · last checked September 2026
Looking for an assessment?
Clinics you can look at
If you want to be assessed privately, we keep plain records of UK clinics: who they are, who they assess, how much they charge and what that price covers. No ratings, no rankings, and nobody pays to be listed.
- See the clinic records
Every clinic we have researched, listed alphabetically, with the facts we could source and the ones nobody publishes.
- Compare private assessment in the UK
What private assessment involves, what it costs and what to check before you pay.
- Work out which route fits you
NHS, Right to Choose or paying privately — a few questions, no account, nothing stored.
Nothing on this map is a diagnosis. See every source we use, and its limits.