ADHD
Adult patterns of inattention, restlessness, and impulsivity over the past six months.
The first 6 questions (Part A) are the core screen. A positive result points toward a fuller evaluation — it isn't a diagnosis.
Stafford & Associates Counseling
Self-Screening Tools:
a place to start
These short, validated questionnaires can help you notice patterns and decide whether a professional evaluation might be worth pursuing. None of them is a diagnosis — think of them as a conversation-starter you can bring to a licensed clinician. All are intended for adults.
1.
Find what fits
Choose the area that matches what you've been noticing. You can complete more than one.
2.
Answer honestly
Respond for the recent timeframe each tool asks about. There are no right answers — only your experience.
3.
Bring it in
Save or screenshot your results and share them with a clinician who can interpret them in context.
Neurodevelopmental
Attention & autism
Mood
Depression & bipolar
Depression
How often low mood, loss of interest, and changes in sleep, energy, or appetite have shown up over the past two weeks.
One question asks about thoughts of self-harm. If those are present for you, please reach out now — call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).
Bipolar I & II
Past periods of unusually elevated, expansive, or irritable mood and energy — the "high" side that depression screens miss.
Pair this with the depression screen — bipolar disorder is often mistaken for depression alone.
Anxiety & stress
Worry, OCD & stress response
Generalized anxiety
How often worry, nervousness, restlessness, and trouble relaxing have shown up over the past two weeks.
A score of 10 or higher commonly prompts a closer look. The GAD-7 also picks up panic, social anxiety, and PTSD-related worry.
Adjustment disorder
Trouble coping after a specific stressful change or event — persistent preoccupation with it and difficulty adapting.
Anchored to an identifiable recent stressor — name the event first, then rate your response. Use the ADNM-8 if you want the short form.
OCD
Intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and the repetitive behaviors or mental acts done to relieve them (compulsions).
A score of 21 or higher suggests a closer look. OCD is not the same as OCPD — see the note alongside.
OCD vs. OCPD. OCD involves distressing obsessions and compulsions a person usually wants to be rid of. OCPD is a personality style built around perfectionism, control, and orderliness — often experienced as "just how I am." The two frequently don't occur together. OCPD is screened under Long-standing patterns below.
Trauma & loss
Complex trauma & grief
Complex PTSD
PTSD symptoms plus the "self-organization" difficulties central to complex trauma: emotion regulation, sense of self, and relationships.
The PCL-5 covers PTSD broadly; the ITQ adds the features specific to complex trauma.
Prolonged grief
Grief that stays intense and disabling long after a significant loss, rather than gradually softening.
Intended for a loss at least 12 months ago, and it can stir strong feelings — consider moving through it gently, or alongside someone you trust.
Personality
Long-standing patterns
Personality patterns
Enduring patterns in how a person relates to others, copes with stress, and experiences themselves — screened two ways, by type and by trait.
These tools over-identify by design — a positive result is a starting point, never a label. The PID-5-BF maps the whole personality landscape across five trait dimensions (rather than a separate test per disorder); the PDQ-4+ covers the specific types, including obsessive-compulsive personality (OCPD).
Borderline (BPD)
Intense, unstable emotions, relationships, and self-image, with strong sensitivity to abandonment — the one personality pattern with a solid brief self-screen.
A score of 7 or higher warrants a fuller look. Like all personality screens, it flags a pattern to explore — not a diagnosis.
Personality screening is the most sensitive category here. We recommend completing these with, or reviewing them through, a clinician — the questions touch on lifelong patterns that are easy to misread about ourselves.
Somatic
Physical symptoms & distress
Somatic Symptom Disorder
Distressing physical symptoms and the worry, attention, and behaviors that build up around them. (DSM-5's update of the older "somatoform" disorders.)
SSD-12
Best used as a pair (burden + the thoughts/feelings around it). Physical symptoms always deserve a medical work-up too.
A high symptom-burden score doesn't mean symptoms are "all in your head." It means the distress around them is significant enough to be worth support — which can sit comfortably alongside medical care.
Companion tools
Going deeper — beneath the screens
These aren't screens for a disorder. They map the patterns underneath — attachment, emotion regulation, early experience, emotional skill — that shape how the areas above show up, and that therapy works with directly.
Attachment style
How you connect in close relationships — how much you fear abandonment (anxiety) and how much you pull back from closeness (avoidance).
Reflective, not diagnostic. Attachment patterns sit beneath much of relational and trauma work — and they can shift over time.
Emotion regulation
How readily you can notice, accept, and steady difficult emotions — versus feeling flooded, stuck, or shut down by them.
A common thread beneath trauma, mood, and personality patterns — and a natural pair with the emotional-intelligence reflection.
Childhood experiences (ACEs)
A count of difficult experiences before age 18 — a backdrop that can shape adult health, relationships, and how we respond to stress.
This one can stir strong feelings — go gently, ideally with support. A higher score is context, not destiny; resilience and later care change the picture.
Emotional intelligence
How you perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions — in yourself and in your relationships. A map of strengths and growth edges.
Strengths and growth edges in working with emotion — a natural complement to schema and emotion-focused therapy.
❖
These screens can surface difficult feelings. If you're in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, you don't have to wait for an appointment — call or text 988, or go to your nearest emergency room. Support is available right now.
How to read your results
Every tool on this page is a screening instrument, not a diagnostic one. A positive screen means a pattern is worth a closer look; it does not confirm a condition, and a negative screen does not rule one out. Only a licensed mental health professional can make a diagnosis, by interpreting these results alongside your history and a clinical interview. Stafford & Associates works with adults 25 and older — we'd be glad to help you make sense of anything you find here.
Stafford & Associates Counseling, PLLC
staffordgroupnc.com · 704-534-5997 · Educational reference — not a diagnostic instrument.