Assessing Adult ADHD Through Objective Neuropsychological Measures: A Critical Overview

Objective: This review examines the role of neuropsychological tests in the diagnostic assessment of adult ADHD, focusing on their ability to discriminate individuals with ADHD from those with other psychiatric conditions. Method: PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO were searched for eligible peer-reviewed studies from inception to September 2022. Results: Ten studies were included. Among the objective measures analyzed, Continuous Performance Tests were the only capable to reliably distinguish individuals with ADHD from other psychiatric patients, in a combined approach with clinical interview instruments. The other objective tests showed mixed and inconsistent results. Conclusion: This finding suggest that further studies are needed to develop objective measures more tailored to the core symptoms of ADHD, in order to improve the discriminatory ability of the tests and help the clinicians in the complex differential diagnosis between ADHD and other psychiatric disorders.