Psychodiagnostic Assessments in Toronto Doctoral-Level Psychological Care

Psychodiagnostic assessments at Laksman Doell Psychology are delivered by doctoral-level psychologists with extensive experience and training in comprehensive assessment and differential diagnosis, both in person at our office in the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto and virtually across Ontario.

How Do I Know if an Assessment Would Be Helpful?

“In many settings, mental health assessment has been compressed into something much smaller than it should be. An online quiz. A family physician visit. A brief structured interview. These tools have their place, but they do not replace a full and comprehensive assessment.”

A diagnosis is only as good as the assessment behind it.

Most of the adults who arrive at Laksman Doell Psychology for a psychodiagnostic assessment have already been seen somewhere else. They’ve received a label. Sometimes several. A family physician screening. An online test. A psychiatric appointment that produced a diagnosis but not much clarity. What they haven’t received is a real understanding of themselves. And those aren’t the same thing.

Perhaps you’ve been told you have depression and anxiety and possibly ADHD, borderline personality disorder, or bipolar II. The diagnoses came from different providers, across different periods of your life. Some of them feel accurate. Others have never quite made sense. What you want to know is whether all of these are real, whether one of them might account for the others, or whether there is something else that has been consistently missed. Diagnostic clarification across complex presentations, mood disorders, personality patterns, and overlapping conditions, is one of the most common reasons that adults come to us for an assessment.

Perhaps you’ve been functioning, and mostly functioning well, but something has never quite fit. Maybe you’ve had pieces of an answer. A therapist who suspected something. A family physician screening that was inconclusive. A partner who pointed something out. But you’ve never had someone look at the whole picture of your history, your patterns, what you’ve adapted around, and what it’s cost you, so that they can tell you clearly what they find. You’ve decided that a real answer is worth more than another decade of wondering.

A psychodiagnostic assessment at Laksman Doell is a comprehensive clinical process. It combines structured clinical interviews, validated psychometric testing, and a thorough review of your history. The question driving it isn’t only about understanding the symptoms that you have, it’s also about understanding who you are, and what those symptoms mean in the full context of your life. That context isn’t background. It is the assessment.

A comprehensive psychodiagnostic assessment situates your experience in the full context of who you are. An anxiety disorder can look different in someone who has spent thirty years building sophisticated compensatory strategies, than it does in an individual who has developed anxiety following a recent traumatic event or a diagnosis of a serious medical condition. A personality pattern that looks like one disorder at a specific point in time can look entirely different across the arc of a lifetime. Depression that runs alongside a personality disorder needs to be understood and treated differently from depression that is purely situational.

Getting the diagnosis right matters. Because the treatment follows from it.

IF YOU ARE READING THIS

You may not be sure what you need, but something brought you here…

You have been given three different diagnoses, by three different mental health practitioners, at three different points in your life. You aren’t sure that any of them fully fit. You want someone to look at the whole picture, and not just the piece that they can see easily from where they're standing.
You’ve been in therapy for years and you haven’t seen the progress that you were looking for. You think that something may have been missed, and you want to understand what that might be.
You function. You always have. But it costs you something that you can't explain, and you want to understand what that is.
Your therapist told you that you might have borderline personality disorder. Your psychiatrist says it's bipolar. You want someone to take the time to both assess you properly, and to help you make sense of the diagnosis.

This is what has brought you here. And you are in the right place.

PSYCHODIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENTS IN TORONTO

The diagnostic presentations that we assess:

At Laksman Doell Psychology, we provide comprehensive psychodiagnostic assessments to adult individuals who are wanting to understand themselves and their experiences, and for those who are looking for clarity regarding whether they might meet criteria for a mental health diagnosis as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR). Our doctoral-level psychologists have extensive training and experience in differential diagnosis and in the diagnosis of complex presentations. When diagnoses have accumulated without cohering, or when a presentation suggests something that has been consistently misread as something else, differential diagnostic assessment is what clarifies things.

This type of assessment can look different depending on the areas that you are wanting to explore. Our doctoral-level psychologists assess for a number of different mental health concerns, including:

Mood Disorders and Complex Anxiety Presentations

We assess for major depressive disorder, bipolar I and II, cyclothymia, persistent depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety, health anxiety, and the frequently complicated picture when several of these occur together or alongside other presentations.

Psychosis and Severe Mental Illness

We provide assessment in the context of psychosis, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder with psychotic features, including presentations where the diagnostic picture has been unclear or has not felt accurate. For adults seeking specialist treatment in CBT for Psychosis (CBTp), our team includes several psychologists with comprehensive training in this area.

Trauma-Related Presentations

We assess for posttraumatic stress disorder, complex trauma, acute stress disorder and adjustment disorders, including the frequently critical differential diagnosis between complex trauma presentations and personality disorder diagnoses. Trauma that has been misidentified, minimized, or accumulated without being addressed is something that we see regularly.

Personality Structure and Personality Disorders

We assess personality in depth. Not as a label to apply, but as a complex web of patterns to understand. Borderline, narcissistic, avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality presentations. Many adults carrying personality-level difficulties have never had them properly identified or explained.

OCD and Related Disorders

We have psychologists with specialized training in the assessment and treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), including many presentations of OCD that have gone unrecognized or that may have been misidentified as anxiety or as a personality disorder. Formal assessment is provided both to clarify diagnoses and to inform treatment planning.

Assessment of Neurodiversity

We also have psychologists who have extensive experience providing assessment and intervention for neurodivergent individuals, and who are particularly well-suited for those individuals who are looking for a differential diagnosis of ADHD or autism. For individuals who are specifically seeking an adult ADHD or autism assessment, please see our dedicated assessment page that covers this work in more detail.

OUR APPROACH

Assessment that starts with understanding you.

At Laksman Doell Psychology, every assessment begins with an intake consultation to help us understand what you are coming in with, what you are hoping to learn, and what the right scope of assessment looks like for you.

Every assessment involves a structured clinical interview, completion of standardized psychometric testing, and a thorough review of your history. In some cases, where helpful, it may also include a review of collateral information that is gathered from relevant sources. At the end of the assessment, we meet with you and walk through what we found. You leave with a comprehensive written report with findings and recommendations, or with a letter that summarizes your diagnoses. Reports are clear, specific, and written to be useful to you, not just to the clinician who reads it next.

The breadth of the assessment reflects the clinical question. A targeted diagnostic clarification is different from a comprehensive differential diagnostic workup for a complex presentation. We’re clear with you upfront about what’s needed, what it involves, and what it will cost. The results of an assessment are yours, and documents can go where they need to go. Your family physician. Your treating psychiatrist. An insurance claims team or disability caseworker. A workplace accommodations coordinator or academic institution. We discuss who needs what before we begin, and we write our recommendations with the intended audience in mind.

All reports and letters are PHIPA-compliant and suitable for insurance documentation, disability claims, workplace and academic accommodations, treatment planning, or simply for your own records.

OUR DIFFERENCE

Specialist training.
Private practice access.

All of the assessments at Laksman Doell Psychology are conducted by doctoral-level psychologists who are registered with, or working toward registration with, the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO). Our team has extensive training in complex and comprehensive assessments, and has trained at sites including, but not limited to, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto General, North York General, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and the University of Toronto.

We assess for what is present and for what has been missed. Many of the adults who come to us for diagnostic clarity have spent years inside the mental health system, in contact with family physicians, psychiatrists, and psychotherapists, without ever receiving an answer that fits. A wrong diagnosis isn’t neutral. It directs treatment in the wrong direction, and it can cost people years. The quality of the assessment is what determines whether you get the right answer.

There are settings where an assessment is fast, convenient, and inexpensive. Ours are none of those things, by design. What we offer instead is accuracy and understanding. This matters most when presentations are complex, and when symptoms overlap. It also matters most when diagnoses have accumulated without cohering, and in situations where something has been consistently missed or misattributed over years of contact with the mental health system.

Doctoral-level psychologists bring years of specialized training in psychological assessment and differential diagnosis. That training is different in kind, not just degree, from that of other mental health professionals. An assessment from a psychologist results in more than just a label, rather, it results in a comprehensive clinical formulation that is specific to the person in front of them.

We also accept referrals from other health professionals who are looking for the diagnostic clarity that an assessment from a doctoral-level psychologist can provide. We work collaboratively with family physicians, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, neurologists, social workers, psychotherapists, occupational therapists, rehabilitation specialists, and employee assistance program coordinators. Many of the professionals who refer to us are skilled and thoughtful practitioners, whose scope of practice doesn’t extend to comprehensive psychodiagnostic assessment. Others have the capacity to diagnose, but are looking for the additional clarity that is provided by the depth, the standardized psychometric testing, and the written documentation that a formal psychological assessment produces. If you are a health professional who is looking to refer a patient, a brief note with the clinical question that you’re trying to answer and your patient’s contact information is enough to get us started.

Assessments are available in person at 27 Prince Arthur Avenue in the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, or virtually across Ontario via PHIPA-compliant video. All services are available virtually to any Ontario resident. No referral required.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What can be assessed through a psychodiagnostic assessment?

We assess for mood disorders including depression and bipolar presentations, anxiety presentations, personality disorders and personality structure, trauma-related presentations, OCD, psychosis, differential diagnosis between overlapping conditions, and complex presentations where a clear picture has not yet emerged. We also offer dedicated assessments for ADHD and autism in adults. If you’re not sure whether what you’re dealing with falls within our scope, then don’t hesitate to reach out to contact us for an intake so that we can answer any questions that you may have.

I've been in therapy for years and nothing has worked. Could something have been missed?

Yes. This is one of the most common reasons that adults come to us for a psychodiagnostic assessment. Treatment that isn’t working is clinical information. It means that the treatment isn’t well matched to the presentation, or that the presentation hasn’t been fully understood. When depression doesn’t lift the way that it should, when anxiety stays resistant across multiple approaches, when nothing quite explains your experience, then the question worth asking is whether the diagnosis driving the treatment is accurate. An assessment doesn’t replace the work that you’ve done. It clarifies what the work should actually be targeting.

How is a formal psychodiagnostic assessment different from what my family physician or psychotherapist can provide?

Your family physician can screen and refer. A psychotherapist can treat. A doctoral-level psychologist conducting a formal psychodiagnostic assessment does something different. We provide a comprehensive clinical evaluation using structured interviews, standardized psychometric testing, a review of your history (and in some cases collateral information), that culminates with a comprehensive written report with specific findings and recommendations. The process takes time and care because the answer requires it.

I've already been given several diagnoses. Why would another assessment help?

Because the goal isn’t another label. It’s an accurate one. Diagnoses accumulate when each clinician sees a cross-section rather than the whole picture. A comprehensive psychodiagnostic assessment provides an understanding of the complete individual, including the different areas of concern, consideration of what may be driving what, and what has been missed or misattributed. For many people who come to us, it’s the first time that their clinical presentation has been looked at in full.

What if the assessment doesn't find anything? What if it's inconclusive?

A thorough, well-conducted assessment either finds something or rules something out. Both are useful. If a comprehensive assessment doesn’t produce a specific diagnosis, that is relevant clinical information. It means that your presentation may be better understood through a different frame, or that the clinical question itself may need to be refined. No one leaves an assessment at Laksman Doell without a clear account of what we found, what we ruled out, and what our recommendations are.

I've been functioning fine my whole life. Can something really have been missed?

Yes. And it’s common. Adults with undiagnosed conditions often haven’t been struggling visibly. They’ve been compensating quietly, and at considerable cost. High intelligence, structured environments, strong external supports, and sustained effort can mask significant underlying patterns for decades. What brings people in is usually the moment when compensation stops being enough: a new demand, a life transition, a period when the workarounds finally break down. You don’t need to have been failing in order to warrant an assessment. You only need a real question about yourself that deserves a real answer.

Is it worth paying for a private assessment when I could wait for a public referral?

That depends on what you’re waiting for and what it’s costing you not to know. Public pathways for comprehensive psychodiagnostic assessment in Ontario are limited, and wait times for thorough differential diagnostic work can be significant. If you’re in treatment that isn’t working, if you’re making decisions about medication, accommodations, or your career, without a clear understanding of your own presentation, or if you’ve been living with a diagnostic question for years, then the cost of continued uncertainty is real. We can’t make that calculation for you. But we can give you an honest answer when you’re ready for one.

I'm a health professional looking to refer a patient. What do you need?

A brief note with the clinical question that you’re trying to answer and your patient’s contact information is enough to start. We’re also happy to offer a brief consultation before the referral if that’s useful.

Do I need a referral for a psychodiagnostic assessment in Toronto?

No. You can contact us directly. No referral from a physician or psychiatrist is required. Many people don’t realize that they can self-refer for a formal psychological assessment.

Are assessments at your practice covered by OHIP?

Private practice services are not covered by OHIP. Coverage may be available through extended health benefits, as many plans cover the services of a registered psychologist. We recommend confirming with your provider before commencing an assessment.

Can I be seen virtually?

Yes. All services are available virtually via PHIPA-compliant video for any Ontario resident.

Life is complicated. We give you clarity.

The first step is a brief consultation to help understand what you are looking for. No referral required. Email us at [email protected] or complete our contact form online.