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ASRS (Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale)

ADHD can persist into adulthood and have a significant impact on a person's relationships, careers, and even safety. The ASRS (Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale) is a checklist of 18 questions about symptoms that are based on the diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual -IV). The patient answers the questions and a positive score suggests the need for a thorough clinical evaluation with a healthcare professional.
This simple checklist takes only 5-minutes to complete and has been designed to provide immediate scoring without need for numerical calculations. The first six symptoms have been found to be particularly important and a short screening test has been built around those questions alone.
The ASRS was developed in conjunction with the World Health Organization and the Workgroup on Adult ADHD that included Lenard Adler, MD from the New York University Medical School and Ronald C. Kessler, PhD and Thomas Spencer, MD from the Harvard Medical School
Download ASRS Form (PDF)
Download ASRS Instructions (PDF)
More about Adult ADHD and the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale
Jay M. Pomerantz, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School, Boston

A large number of psychiatric tests, scales, and forms have been created over the years to help in diagnosing mental illness and assisting in treatment and follow-up. This Web-based service offers copies of some of the most popular and useful instruments. The hope is that healthcare professionals—whether in specialty practices, primary-care settings, or emergency services—will find this format convenient and useful, allowing them to find the right instrument quickly, print it out for immediate use with patients, and add the findings to their records. Since most of the tools are designed for repeated use over time, they will provide not only a longitudinal view but also document the medical record.

In addition to the forms themselves, you will find instructions on how to administer and score the scales as well as related articles and links to other useful guidance. When appropriate, we will supply video resources for additional insights.

These scales have demonstrated high levels of accuracy and validity and the results can give important clues to possible mental disorders that warrant follow up. However, please remember that they depend on the skills of the clinicians administering them and the accuracy of the information provided by the patients.