I got 2 positives: Major Depression and one other, that I forgot. Yes, I have had at least one episode of depression in my life, so this was no surprise.

However, what I think of as my 2 main problems, I tested negative for: PTSD and ADHD. I think the "gatekeeper" questions for both of those are too stringent and could use some modification.

I think the ADHD gatekeeper questions focus on symptoms that are classic for boys. My PNP has told me that ADHD often manifests differently in girls. I have tested positive on the professionally-administered CARS assessment for ADHD and also I have take the online assessments at Dr. Amen's website for ADHD, and these are very good. They cost $10 and go into detail about the different types of ADHD and classify you as one of those types and give specific recommendations based on type. These were worth $10 to me. In short, I think the MindSet ADHD questions are very weak and need modification to catch girls and people who don't manifest as "fidgety" etc. Also, I think they rely too much on asking you to recall how you were when you were a child under the age of 7. ADHD is a problem for me NOW, so why not ask about the symptoms I am experiencing now instead of asking me to recall in detail things from when I was a small child? This perpetuates the myth that ADHD is a childhood problem and that everyone grows out of it. In fact, in the diagnostic report that Mindset sends you, it says that ADHD can "occasionally persist into adulthood". That seems like a real understatement to me. Since it is likely not children who are taking this online test, people won't really care if they had ADHD long ago as little kids. It should be enough to verify there were some issues as a child and then go into asking about current symptoms. They will want to know what problems they have NOW so they can do something to solve them. If the person answers "I don't know" on the child questions, this shouldn't preclude them from being asked more questions about current behavior. How many people can remember with accuracy their issues before the age of 7?

As for trauma, again, I feel the gatekeeper questions are too "all or nothing" and don't let people through to the next level of questions who actually do have PTSD. My therapist has told me I have many classic symptoms for PTSD but yet I couldn't make it to those questions in the Mindset survey. So I think it needs improvement in this area too. I am going to go back to the assessment and see if I answered a little differently whether I would get further into the questions.

I would not pay for this assessment. I think it is too comprehensive and so misses the boat in some of the areas. Perhaps they were worried about the test being too long so they skimped in areas. I did think the depression questions were very good.

DocJohn, if you want to see a good example of tests, go look at the ones on the Amen website for ADHD. In addition to doing a good job with assignment to a particular subtype of ADHD, they also help differentially diagnose ADHD from other disorders that present with some similarity. (The only bad thing about the Amen tests is that they may recommend taking certain supplements/vitamins to correct brain chemical imbalances, and of course, it just happens that you can buy the supplements you "need" from Dr. Amen too!)

I did not take any of the substance abuse tests at Mindset because they give you an option to not do those. This is really a good feature so you can skip those if you don't have addiction problems.

I did like how the results Mindset email's you contain all your answers to all the questions.

Thanks for providing the pointer to this assessment.

Edited to add:
I went back and tweaked my answer to ADHD so I could get further into the questions, and I did indeed find that all questions were about the under 7 age period. What was funny, is one question said something like, "you have reported a lack of concentration before the age of 7. Did this ever cause you problems at home? At school? At work?" LOL! What 7 year old has a job??? This part of the survey seriously needs revision! In addition, even though I answered positively for the inattention symptoms, I answered negative for the hyperactivity symptoms, and so was told I tested negative for ADHD. This is not in alignment with the DSM, as you can be either hyperactive type ADHD or inattentive type. The inattentive type is the type many girls have. So again, the Mindset survey needs to be revised in the area of ADHD.

I also tried to get further into the PTSD questions and found what I didn't like here is that they wanted you to identify one particular traumatic event ("your worst") and then answer questions about that. This seems very limited to me. Some people have repeated traumas and it is hard to pick any one.