Psychasses1

standardized procedures designed to collect, organize, and interpret information about a person and his or her situation

description, prediction, diagnosis and planning

description: accurate portrait of personality, cognitive functioning, mood and behavior

prediction: use of descriptions for decision-making process -- should this personal be hospitalized, should they have surgery?

diagnosis: classification of abnormal behavior

planning: plan to effectively intervene

• 1. clinical interview
• 2. self-report questionaires
• 3. projective tests
• 4. developmental tests
• 5. intelligence tests

*know which tests are in which category, and what theyre for, and the relative length of time for each (short vs long)

• structured: patient answers a prearranged sequence of questions
• unstructured: clinician asks broad questions and follows up with addition ones

• -can be either screening (1-4) or inventories (5).
• -inventories are comprehensive, both have problems with a patient misrepresenting themselves

• 1.Patient Health Questionaire (PHQ): for most common mental disorders. short
• 2. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II): for depression, short, assesses suicide, scores 0-63
• 3. Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI): measures frequency of anxiety symptoms over the last week, socres 0-63, short
• 4. Primary Care Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: screen for PTSD, short (4 items)
• 5. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory: used to help simplify differential diagnosis by comparing to tests from patients with psychiatric disorders

• -use ambiguous stimuli to for patient to "read" that gives clues to unconscious processes.
• -interpretation subjective*

• 1. Rorschach Inkblot Test
• 2. Thematic Apperception Test: shown pictures and asked to tell a story about characters, objects

-used to assess development of infants and very young children >18mo

• 1. Bayley Scales of Infant Development
• 2. Vinland Adaptive Behavior Scales: help diagnose mental retardation by assessing personal and social competence

adaptive behavior: ability and competency of individual to meet expected standards of personal independence /social responsibility in relation to her/her age and cultural group.

-tests what person has already learned to assess academic achievement, learning disabilities, and behavior disorders

• some common ones:
• 1. USMLE's 1-3, basic science, clinical, and application
• 2. wide range achievement test: age 5-74, takes 30 min.
• 3. woodcock johnson tests of achievement: age 3-adult, 2 hrs

• "aptitude", mental ability, predict how well someone can perform intellectual activities
• -only measures what the test makes considers intelligence, not street or social competence

• -attempting to understand how brain structure and function impact cognition and behavior.
• -specialized type of psychological assessment
• -neuropsychologists evaluate how biological and psychological factors impact brain functioning and result in clinical symptoms, cognitive dysfunction, and impairments in functional activities

-long process, medical record review, interview, psychometric testing (measure cognitive ability)

• 1. evaluate social, emotional, and psychiatric functioning
• 2. perform differential diagnosis
• 3. monitor symptoms and mental status
• 4. determine medical adherence and readiness for treatment
• 5. treatment and rehab planning
• 6. planning of life activities and reinegration
• 7. assess intellectual and academic functining
• 8. forensic/legal questions
• 9. risk for dangerous behavior

• developmental - down's syndrome, maternal ill or prenatal toxin
• acquired - TBI, vascular events, dementia