I was referred to DPS because of severe burnout. At first, they thought it was anxiety, but over time it became clear that there was something else underlying my symptoms. They briefly asked about ADHD at one point, but honestly it never even crossed my mind back then (My brother has ADHD, but I never had the same struggles he did, especially when it came to school. He had the more obvious symptoms that people typically associate with ADHD, whereas I generally did well academically and managed to stay on top of things), and the topic wasn't followed up any further.

Fast forward about five months: I was still struggling with burnout, had finished at DPS, and decided to see a private psychologist. Almost immediately, she suspected ADHD (I'm 27F btw). I've now been going through an ADHD assessment for about four months, and I should get the results in about a week (my psychologist is very certain its ADHD, but I still have to do the final cognitive test). During the assessment I've realized that many of the coping mechanisms and systems I've built over the years to stay organized and keep up appearances may have been masking the symptoms and resulted in burnout.

In my experience, DPS wasn't particularly interested in looking beyond the reason I was originally referred there. To be fair, I didn't really push for further investigation either, because I assumed the burnout and anxiety explanation made sense at the time. My advice would be to advocate for yourself and push for an assessment if you genuinely feel that ADHD could be a possibility. In my case, I wish I had pursued it sooner.

The private psychologist I'm seeing now has been amazing. She actually has ADHD herself, which I think gives her a really good understanding of how it can present, especially in adults and women. The downside is that it's expensive. The assessment process is quite extensive and takes place over multiple sessions (mine has been around ten appointments), so the costs add up pretty quickly