ADHD care in Greek for Greeks abroad: what an online assessment can and cannot do

Greek-speaking adults who live abroad can arrange an online adult ADHD assessment in Greek, once the practice has checked that it is suitable for their situation and country. What the assessment cannot do on its own is decide whether an employer, university or insurer accepts the report, or whether a local doctor will prescribe. Those are three separate questions with three different decision-makers. Keeping them apart saves you most of the disappointment.

Why the language matters

An ADHD assessment is not a work conversation. You are asked about primary school, about what your parents said, about what happens in you when you are interrupted, about why you put off something you want to do. Most of that lives in your first language.

When you describe your childhood in a second language, the details that matter most can get smoothed over. You reach for the words you know best, not the ones that fit.

The practice is in Trikala, Greece. Sessions are online, in Greek or English. There is no physical clinic in the countries where patients live.

Much of the information sits in everyday phrases. “I lose things”, “my mind is buzzing”, “I put everything off”: said in Greek, in your own words, they can show the pattern more clearly than a clinical term picked up in a second language.

Three questions that should not be mixed up

1. Can the appointment take place? The practice looks at where you will be during the session, clinical suitability and professional requirements before agreeing.

2. Will the report be accepted? The organisation or clinician who receives it decides, not the clinician who wrote it.

3. Can treatment continue where you live? You need a local prescriber, an available medicine and proper monitoring. A video appointment does not provide these by itself.

Do not read this as all-or-nothing. If a local doctor does not accept a report on the first day, is the assessment wasted? Usually not: it gives you a clearer explanation of your difficulties and a document to build on.

What a report can realistically do

NICE guidance says ADHD should be diagnosed by a suitably qualified specialist on the basis of a full clinical and psychosocial assessment, a full developmental and psychiatric history, and observer reports; it should not rest on a rating scale alone [1]. The Trikala assessment is a structured DIVA-5 interview [11], usually over two 45-minute sessions, with a written report. A report that shows its method makes it easier for another clinician to review.

It still does not bind anyone. In England, for example, an NHS integrated care board explains that private assessments fall outside the NHS Right to Choose route and that NHS services are not required to prescribe medicine recommended by a private provider unless NICE-compliant diagnostic reports accompany the request [5].

Medicines and prescriptions across borders

The doctor decides about any treatment after the appointment, and a prescription is never promised in advance. Two points to know:

• EU guidance says a prescription issued in one EU country is valid in all others, but it is dispensed under the rules of the country where you use it. The same guidance warns that a medicine may not be available abroad and that an e-prescription may not be usable outside its home country [2]. For medicines that are controlled substances, ask a local pharmacist or doctor whether a foreign prescription can be dispensed in your country.

• Carrying controlled medicines across a border is a separate matter. Within the Schengen area, travel of up to 30 days is covered by a certificate under Article 75 of the Schengen Implementing Convention: completed by the treating doctor, authenticated beforehand by the competent health authority, one certificate per medicine [3].

Once treatment is running, NICE asks for continuity of care, a shared treatment plan and, after the dose is settled, prescribing and monitoring under shared-care arrangements with primary care [1]. That is why a local doctor is part of the plan, not an extra.

Psychotherapy and medicine are options we put side by side and decide together. If medicine is chosen, we talk about side effects with a timeline and a trial period, not as a one-off yes or no.

Visiting Greece and need to know how an e-prescription works for someone without an AMKA? See prescriptions in Greece without an AMKA.

Two things make it easier for a local doctor to pick up the plan. Before ADHD medication, a preventive cardiology check is done, and its results travel with you. And the plan is written as if-then from the start: start low, adjust gradually, and agree what happens if a side effect appears or the benefit is not enough.

Germany

Germany is in the Schengen area, so the Article 75 certificate applies to carrying controlled medicines within Schengen for up to 30 days. The German federal opium agency notes that such medicines may only be carried by the person they were prescribed for [3]. For waiting times, statutory insurance coverage and who may start treatment, ask your Krankenkasse and your Hausarzt before you decide.

United Kingdom

Dr Mylonas is not an NHS provider and does not prescribe in the UK; a UK prescriber continues any treatment.

• NHS Right to Choose (England): your GP refers you, the referral must be non-urgent, clinically appropriate and a first appointment for a new episode, and the chosen provider must hold an NHS contract. It does not apply if you are already receiving care for the same condition [5].

• Bringing medicines into the UK: carry them in hand luggage; no more than 3 months’ supply; a letter from the prescriber (your name, travel dates, medicines with quantities and strengths, signature). For longer stays, obtain a UK prescription [4]. The UK is outside the Schengen certificate scheme.

Waiting times differ by area. The only reliable number is the one for your local service.

Netherlands

• The huisarts can refer you to GGZ (specialist mental health care). Within GGZ, transfers between providers do not need a new referral [6].

• The official expectation is a first conversation within 4 weeks and treatment within 10 weeks of first contact. If you wait longer, report it to your insurer, which has a duty to arrange care or reimburse non-contracted care [7]. In practice the national regulator reports that access to mental health care is under growing pressure [8].

For the cost of an assessment and your annual deductible, ask your insurer.

Belgium

According to a Belgian ADHD care-pathway site, reimbursement of ADHD medicine applies from age 6 to 17, certified by a (child and adolescent) psychiatrist or neurologist, and stops after the 18th birthday [9]. This is not an official source and is undated. Check with your mutuality or RIZIV/INAMI before you plan around it. If medicine costs fall on you, it is one more reason to ask early which non-drug options are available.

Switzerland

Switzerland is in Schengen but not in the EU. The federal health office states that the standard annual franchise for adults is CHF 300, followed by a 10% share up to CHF 700 per year [10]. Ask your insurer first whether an assessment is covered and whether the provider is recognised.

Waiting for a local appointment?

Waiting passively is the part that costs most. Action comes before mood. You do not need to feel ready to start. Pick one small step this week: write three real examples of difficulties; note how school went; ask one person who knew you as a child what they remember. Avoidance keeps the problem alive, because each delayed task makes the next one heavier. Small, concrete steps break that cycle.

When should you ask for an assessment at all? When the difficulties regularly get in the way of work, relationships or daily functioning, not only when you feel uncomfortable. If you are unsure, the free ASRS screener can help you decide. It does not diagnose.

Before you book

• Where will you be during the session? Give the country and your local time (check daylight-saving changes).

• Do you need a report for a particular organisation? Ask for their requirements first.

• Do you already have a diagnosis or treatment? Keep previous reports and a list of current treatment.

• Avoid sending detailed medical history by ordinary email.

The assessment is usually two 45-minute sessions at €130 each; a complex history may need more. Book an appointment · Adult ADHD service · What the assessment involves · How to prepare.

Educational information. It does not replace an individual clinical assessment. If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number (112 in the EU).

Sources

1. NICE NG87, ADHD: diagnosis and management (published 14/3/2018, updated 13/9/2019), recommendations 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.5.1, 1.5.2, 1.7.29, 1.8.1: nice.org.uk/guidance/ng87/chapter/recommendations (read on 29/10/2026)

2. Your Europe, Presenting a prescription in another EU country (last checked 09/10/2025): europa.eu/youreurope/…/prescriptions

3. BfArM Bundesopiumstelle, Travelling with narcotic drugs (undated page; read on 29/10/2026): bfarm.de

4. GOV.UK, Travelling with controlled drugs (last updated 27/10/2026): gov.uk/travelling-controlled-drugs

5. NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB, Right to Choose for mental health care (read on 29/10/2026): surreysussex.icb.nhs.uk

6. Rijksoverheid, Psychische hulp door huisarts of andere zorgaanbieders binnen ggz (amended 13/8/2026): rijksoverheid.nl

7. Rijksoverheid, Krijg ik te maken met wachttijden als ik zorg nodig heb? (amended 24/9/2026): rijksoverheid.nl

8. Nederlandse Zorgautoriteit, Toegang tot geestelijke gezondheidszorg verder onder druk (22/7/2025): nza.nl

9. ADHD-traject (Belgium), Terugbetalingsvoorwaarden medicatie, undated, not an official source: adhd-traject.be

10. Bundesamt für Gesundheit BAG, Kostenbeteiligung für in der Schweiz wohnhafte Versicherte (undated): bag.admin.ch

11. DIVA Foundation, DIVA (structured diagnostic interview for adult ADHD): divacenter.eu (read on 29/10/2026)