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
Support that is not medication
Psychological therapy, practical strategies, environmental change and coaching — four different things.
01
What you’re experiencing
Support that is not medication
02
What it may connect to
No reviewed connections yet.
03
What may help, and where next
CBT-based psychological support, Changes to the environment, ADHD coaching, Medication and treatment conversations, Getting assessed in the UK, Urgent support
Start with these
The most useful connections first
What may be worth trying now
Things people commonly find useful. Not treatment.
CBT-based psychological support (Source)
CBT-based psychological support is the adult approach with a reviewed evidence base; reviews report group-level benefits with variation between studies and formats.
Changes to the environment (Source)
Environmental modification is recommended within UK guidance as part of ADHD care, and does not depend on a diagnosis being confirmed.
ADHD coaching (Tip)
Coaching is practical, forward-looking and unregulated in the UK. We have no reviewed systematic-review evidence for ADHD coaching outcomes, so it should not be treated as equivalent to therapy.
What to understand next
Including the things that can look like this and are worth ruling out.
Medication and treatment conversations (Source)
Medication is a separate, prescriber-led part of care. Comparing options is a clinical conversation, not a choice to make from a website.
Getting assessed in the UK (Our note)
Practical support can start now; assessment answers a different question, and the two do not have to be sequential.
When professional support may be appropriate
Nothing here is a diagnosis. A qualified professional is the only route to one.
Urgent support (Our note)
If you are struggling now, urgent support does not depend on a diagnosis or a waiting list.
Everything below is the same set of connections in full, grouped by the kind of relationship.
May help with
CBT-based psychological support
Assessment and support · Source
CBT-based psychological support is the adult approach with a reviewed evidence base; reviews report group-level benefits with variation between studies and formats.
The adult psychological approach with a reviewed evidence base, delivered by regulated professionals.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That reviews and meta-analyses of CBT-based support for adults with ADHD report group-level benefits with heterogeneity, and that UK guidance includes non-pharmacological support.
- Sources
- The 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-analysesNG87 recommendationsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authority
- What this does not prove
- That any individual will benefit, or that availability is uniform across the UK.
- Our confidence
- Reasonably supported · last checked September 2026
Changes to the environment
Strategy · Source
Environmental modification is recommended within UK guidance as part of ADHD care, and does not depend on a diagnosis being confirmed.
Timers, boundaries at the end rather than the start, one capture place, and routines attached to events.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That environmental modifications should be considered as part of a treatment plan for people with ADHD.
- Sources
- NG87 recommendationsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authorityAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87)National Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authority
- Our confidence
- Well established in guidance · last checked September 2026
ADHD coaching
Assessment and support · Tip
Coaching is practical, forward-looking and unregulated in the UK. We have no reviewed systematic-review evidence for ADHD coaching outcomes, so it should not be treated as equivalent to therapy.
Practical, non-clinical support focused on systems and follow-through.
Shows up at
At work
Life context · Our note
At work the same idea appears as adjustments: change the conditions rather than the effort.
Unstarted admin, missed deadlines and the scaffolding around the job rather than the job.
Learn more
Medication and treatment conversations
Assessment and support · Source
Medication is a separate, prescriber-led part of care. Comparing options is a clinical conversation, not a choice to make from a website.
What titration, monitoring and shared care mean, and which questions belong with a prescriber.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That UK guidance sets out medication as one part of ADHD treatment, and that comparative research describes population-level benefits and harms.
- Sources
- NG87 recommendationsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authorityPharmacologic treatment of ADHD in adults: systematic review and network meta-analysisElliott J and colleagues · Systematic review or meta-analysis · 2020 · International · Systematic reviews and meta-analysesComparative efficacy and acceptability of pharmacological, psychological and neurostimulatory interventions for ADHD in adultsOstinelli EG and colleagues · Systematic review or meta-analysis · International · Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- What this does not prove
- Which treatment is right for any individual.
- Our confidence
- Well established in guidance · last checked September 2026
Getting assessed in the UK
Assessment and support · Our note
Practical support can start now; assessment answers a different question, and the two do not have to be sequential.
GP referral, Right to Choose and private routes, and what an assessment involves.
Where to get support
Urgent support
Assessment and support · Our note
If you are struggling now, urgent support does not depend on a diagnosis or a waiting list.
If coping is the problem right now, help is available without a diagnosis.
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.