We are a psychiatric and psychotherapeutic practice in Münster. If German is not your first language, the specialist assessment for ADHD and the autism spectrum in adults can be carried out in English — consultation, structured interviews, feedback session and the written report.
What we assess
Adults who suspect ADHD, an autism spectrum condition, or both. A frequent reason for referral is a long history of depression, anxiety or exhaustion that has responded poorly to the usual treatments — behind which an unrecognised neurodivergence and years of masking are not uncommon. We also see people who were assessed as children abroad and need a current, German-language-system report.
We do not perform the ADOS-2 in adults. The assessment rests on clinical examination, structured interviews and psychometric testing, as the German adult guideline provides for.
How it works
What “in English” means here
Consultations, interviews and the feedback session are held in English, and the report is written in English. One limitation belongs in the open: not every questionnaire exists in a validated English version. Several instruments were developed in English and are used in the original; a few exist only with German norms. Where we have to fall back on a German form, or where norms were established in a German-speaking sample, the report says so — this affects how confidently a score can be interpreted, and you should know it rather than find it out later.
What you receive
Not a bare yes or no. You receive a written report that also makes your results visible — much as a laboratory report shows internal values. The charts place your profile in relation to comparison groups. On request the report also sets out where treatment might sensibly start: which themes carry the picture today, whether a focused, skills-based approach or a structure- and relationship-oriented one is closer at hand, and in what order. Where the findings do not support such a conclusion, we say that just as plainly. It is decision support — the indication is set by the treating clinician.
With your consent the report goes to your referring practice, and can be issued in German as well if a German-speaking clinician will continue your treatment.
What an assessment can answer — and where its limits lie
An assessment does more than answer “ADHD or autism — yes or no”. It makes connections visible that often look like separate problems in daily life and are not. Five examples:
Stimuli. Over- and under-sensitivity do not exclude each other; they often occur in the same person, in different senses or at different times. Knowing this explains why “more quiet” alone sometimes does not help — and why a silent room and a need to move are not a contradiction.
Feelings. Many neurodivergent adults notice inner states late — tension, hunger, exhaustion. An assessment can show whether the difficulty lies more in perceiving or more in naming feelings. That is not an academic distinction: it helps decide where treatment can begin.
Body. Physical complaints without a clear finding — exhaustion, pain, digestion, sleep — are often linked, in neurodivergent people, to how the body is perceived: too late, too vaguely, or only when nothing else is possible. The assessment can make the interplay of body perception, emotion recognition and symptom burden visible — and help to weigh how much of it belongs to medical work-up and how much to one’s own perception. It does not replace a medical examination.
Adaptation and its price. Years of covering one’s own way of being can now be asked about. The report places how much energy this adaptation costs — and why it often does not bring the connection hoped for.
Look-alikes. Autistic traits, the after-effects of trauma and personality disorders resemble each other in many single features; misdiagnoses in both directions are common. The assessment therefore never relies on a single questionnaire, but on the pattern of several, differently obtained indications.
Where the limits lie: A score on its own is not a diagnosis, and a diagnosis is not a promise of treatment. The assessment places things; what follows from it is decided by you — together with the clinician who treats you.
Fees
What matters to us is that you leave with an understanding rather than a label — a report you can read and place, and from which concrete next steps follow. The scope of the assessment follows from that: as thorough as the question requires, and no more. And you know what it costs before we begin.
The assessment is a private medical service, invoiced under the German medical fee schedule for physicians (GOÄ). Before we begin you sign a written fee agreement and receive an itemised cost estimate with the fee codes — the document your insurer will ask for. In the typical case, assessing one question — ADHD or autism — comes to €420.11; taking both questions together in a single assessment comes to €495.86, because the shared steps (screening, first consultation, structured interview, feedback session and written report) are charged only once.
In-depth differential modules — a collateral history with a relative, an additional structured interview, further test batteries on personality, structure, anxiety or body awareness, or a trauma module with a detailed history — are added only when screening or findings give a concrete reason, and always after discussion with you; depending on scope they range from €67.04 to €142.48. Only what is actually provided is invoiced.
Reimbursement. You settle the invoice and may submit it to your insurer. Whether and how much is reimbursed depends entirely on your policy — we cannot promise reimbursement, and we would rather say so now than later. For patients with German private insurance or civil-servant assistance (Beihilfe), a guideline-compliant assessment is usually eligible, but the tariff decides.
The German fee section is the authoritative version: Kosten der Diagnostik. Figures are for the typical pathway and are confirmed in your individual estimate before anything begins.
Who this is for — and who it is not for
The assessment is for privately insured patients, those entitled to Beihilfe, and self-payers, including patients with international insurance. Because the practice holds a statutory psychotherapy licence, this specialist assessment cannot be billed to German statutory health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung). If you are statutorily insured you may still attend as a self-payer; we will tell you before we start what that means for you.
If an acute crisis is the reason you are getting in touch — acute suicidal thoughts, an acute psychotic or manic episode — an assessment is not the right first step. In Germany, emergency help is available around the clock on 112, and the telephone counselling service Telefonseelsorge can be reached free of charge on 0800 111 0 111 and 0800 111 0 222.
Getting an appointment
Appointments for private consultations and for the assessment are best arranged via Doctolib or by email. Please mention that you would like the assessment in English, so we can plan the questionnaire set accordingly.
Praxis für Psychotherapie am Pottkamp
Dr. med. Stephan-Sebastian Scherer — Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist
Pottkamp 23 · 48149 Münster · Germany
Phone +49 251 97446348 ·
scherer@psychotherapie-am-pottkamp.de
This page is an English summary of our German pages. For legal notices and data protection see Impressum & Datenschutz; the German version prevails in case of doubt.