Autism Testing in Children: What the Full Diagnostic Workup Looks Like
When a child is referred for autism testing, families are often trying to understand much more than whether one label fits. They want to...
Autism vs ADHD: How Doctors Tell the Difference
Autism and ADHD can look similar from the outside. A child may seem distracted, avoid eye contact, have big reactions to changes, talk intensely...
Baseline Concussion Testing for Athletes: When It Helps, When It Doesn’t, and Who Needs It
A concussion can affect attention, memory, reaction time, balance, vision, sleep, mood, and school or work performance. In sports, the challenge is that no...
Behavioral Health Screening in Schools: What Students and Parents Should Expect
Behavioral health screening in schools is meant to identify students who may be struggling socially, emotionally, behaviorally, or psychologically before problems become harder to...
Biomarkers in Brain and Mental Health: What Counts as a Biomarker and Why It Matters
Biomarkers can make brain and mental health care feel more concrete: a blood result, a scan finding, a spinal fluid measure, a genetic result,...
Bipolar Disorder Screening: How Doctors Screen for Bipolar Symptoms
Bipolar disorder is often first suspected when a person seeks help for depression, mood swings, poor sleep, impulsive behavior, irritability, or changes in energy...
Bipolar Disorder vs ADHD: How Doctors Tell the Difference
Bipolar disorder and ADHD can overlap in ways that make diagnosis difficult. Both can involve distractibility, restlessness, impulsive decisions, rapid speech, emotional intensity, and...
Blood Biomarker Tests for Alzheimer’s Disease: What Is Available, What They Show, and What It Means
Blood tests are changing how Alzheimer’s disease is evaluated, especially for people who already have memory loss, mild cognitive impairment, or other cognitive symptoms....
Blood Sugar and A1C Testing for Brain Fog and Cognitive Symptoms
Brain fog can feel vague, but the testing approach should be specific. When poor concentration, mental fatigue, word-finding trouble, irritability, or “spaced out” episodes...
Blood Tests for Brain Fog: What Doctors Usually Check
Brain fog can feel like slow thinking, poor concentration, forgetfulness, word-finding trouble, mental fatigue, or a sense that everyday tasks take more effort than...
Blood Tests for Depression and Anxiety: Medical Causes Doctors Rule Out
Depression and anxiety are diagnosed mainly through symptoms, history, clinical judgment, and validated screening tools. A blood test cannot confirm that someone has major...
Blood Tests for Memory Loss: Common Labs in Cognitive Workups
Memory changes can come from many different causes: sleep loss, medication effects, thyroid disease, vitamin deficiencies, depression, delirium, stroke, neurodegenerative disease, alcohol use, infection,...
Borderline Personality Disorder Assessment: How Doctors Evaluate BPD Symptoms
Borderline personality disorder is assessed through a careful clinical evaluation, not a single blood test, brain scan, or quick questionnaire. Doctors look for long-standing...
Brain CT Scan: When It Is Used and What It Can Detect
A brain CT scan is often used when doctors need a fast look at the brain, skull, and nearby structures. It is especially useful...
Brain Fog Testing: How Doctors Evaluate Brain Fog and Poor Concentration
Brain fog can feel like slowed thinking, forgetfulness, poor concentration, word-finding trouble, or mental fatigue that makes ordinary tasks harder than they should be....
Brain Imaging for Memory Loss: When MRI or PET Is Used
Memory loss can come from many different causes, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular changes, medication effects, sleep problems, depression, vitamin deficiencies, prior head injury, and...
Brain MRI: What It Shows and When It Is Ordered
A brain MRI is one of the most detailed imaging tests used to look at the brain and nearby structures inside the head. Doctors...
Brain, Cognitive, and Mental Health Tests by Age: Children, Adults, and Seniors
Testing for brain, cognitive, and mental health concerns is not one-size-fits-all. A preschool child who is late to speak, a teenager with panic symptoms,...
Brain, Cognitive, and Mental Health Tests by Symptom: Memory Loss, Brain Fog, Anxiety, Mood Swings, and More
Symptoms such as memory loss, brain fog, anxiety, mood swings, poor concentration, or sudden confusion can come from many different causes. Some are primarily...
CAGE Alcohol Screening: What It Means and When It Is Used
The CAGE questionnaire is a brief alcohol screening tool used to identify signs that alcohol may be causing harm or loss of control. It...