These are differences in how a brain develops and processes, present from early life. They are not illnesses that arrive, and the goal of support is function and fit, not cure.
What they are
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder involves persistent difficulties with attention, impulse control and activity regulation, present across more than one setting and to a degree that interferes with functioning. It is not a failure of discipline, and it does not disappear at eighteen.
Autism spectrum disorder involves differences in social communication and interaction alongside restricted or repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or sensory processing. The spectrum is wide, support needs vary enormously, and many autistic adults were not identified as children.
How they show up
In children, the first signal is usually a mismatch between effort and outcome at school, or a pattern that a teacher notices before a parent does. In adults, it is more often a long history of coping that stops working under a new load: a promotion, a baby, a move.
Both conditions frequently occur alongside anxiety and depression, and the secondary condition is often what brings someone to a clinic. Treating the anxiety without recognising what is driving it produces limited results.
Getting an assessment in Singapore
There are two routes. The public route runs through a polyclinic or GP referral to a hospital service, is subsidised, and typically involves a wait. The private route is faster and unsubsidised. For school-age children, the school and its allied educators are often involved in identifying the need and in supporting any accommodations afterwards.
Organisations that support families
The Autism Resource Centre (Singapore) works with autistic people and their families. Unlocking ADHD is a Singapore organisation focused on ADHD awareness and support, and maintains a healthcare and community services directory.
What help costs
Start with what is free, because a good deal of it is.
- National mindline 1771, 24 hours. Phone 1771, WhatsApp 6669 1771, or webchat at mindline.sg. No cost, no referral.
- Samaritans of Singapore on 1767, and CareText on WhatsApp 9151 1767. Also 24 hours, also free.
- Community Outreach Teams (CREST) are the general first stop. Community Intervention Teams (COMIT) go further, with counselling, case management and psychosocial support from qualified mental health professionals. Both are government funded and free to you. The wayfinding tool at aic.sg will match you to a team near where you live.
- Family Service Centres take walk-ins and there are 49 of them across the island. They handle counselling and money trouble in the same conversation, which is often exactly what is needed.
None of these asks you for a diagnosis, a referral or a card.
Subsidised treatment
Four mental health conditions are on the Chronic Disease Management Programme: anxiety, major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Being on that list is what lets you claim CHAS subsidies at a GP and use MediSave for outpatient treatment. Dementia is on the programme too, handled as an ordinary chronic condition rather than under the mental illness heading.
One detail catches people out. For those four conditions, not every CHAS GP can claim. The clinic has to be accredited under the Mental Health GP Partnership Programme. Ask when you book, not after the consultation.
At a public specialist outpatient clinic, including the Institute of Mental Health, subsidies run from 30 to 70 per cent for citizens depending on household income per person, and a flat 25 per cent for permanent residents. The referral is what unlocks that rate. Get one from a polyclinic, or from a CHAS clinic if you hold a CHAS card. Turn up without one and you pay private rates.
MediSave
You can use MediSave for outpatient treatment of those four conditions. The limit is $500 a year, or $700 if your case is complex. Both rise, to $700 and $1,000, in January 2027. Until then the lower figures are what you have to work with.
A 15 per cent co-payment normally applies. It is waived if you use MediSave at the clinic you enrolled with under Healthier SG. Ask your clinic whether that is you.
If someone is admitted
MediShield Life pays $230 a day for psychiatric inpatient care, for up to 60 days a policy year. For a standard ward stay that is not psychiatric it pays $830 a day. That difference is built into the scheme, and it matters if a long admission is a possibility.
What people actually pay
Once subsidies are applied, most people being treated for these conditions pay somewhere between $300 and $500 a year, depending on how complex the treatment is.
If money is the thing standing between you and treatment, say so at the clinic rather than quietly stopping. Medical social workers at the public hospitals assess for further help, and Family Service Centres and Social Service Offices deal with the financial side alongside everything else.
If you are the caregiver
Most of the work is environmental rather than clinical. Shorter instructions, externalised memory, predictable transitions, sensory adjustments and a school that understands the profile will do more than any amount of encouragement. Documentation matters here in a way it does not for other conditions, because accommodations usually require it.
Support for families is listed on the caregiver support hub.
This page is information, not medical advice. It does not diagnose, treat, or replace an assessment by a qualified professional. If you are in crisis, call 995 or one of the helplines listed on this site.