Clinical assessment tools psychology

After the naming of a DSM-5 Task Force Chair and Vice-Chair in , task force members were selected and approved by , and workgroup members were approved in Elements of a diagnosis.

DSM-5 disorder categories. The DSM-5 includes the following categories of disorders:. In , the International Statistical Institute adopted the International List of Causes of Death which was the first international classification edition.

The WHO states:. ICD is the foundation for the identification of health trends and statistics globally, and the international standard for reporting diseases and health conditions. It is the diagnostic classification standard for all clinical and research purposes.

ICD defines the universe of diseases, disorders, injuries and other related health conditions, listed in a comprehensive, hierarchical fashion that allows for:. The list of mental disorders is broken down as follows:.

As noted earlier, the ICD is currently in development with an expected publication date of According to the DSM-5, there is an effort to harmonize the two classification systems for a more accurate collection of national health statistics and design of clinical trials, increased ability to replicate scientific findings across national boundaries, and to rectify the issue of DSM-IV and ICD diagnoses not agreeing APA, Who seeks treatment?

Would you describe the people who seek treatment as being on the brink, crazy, or desperate? Or can the ordinary Joe in need of advice seek out mental health counseling? The answer is that anyone can. David Sack, M. First, if we feel sad, angry, or not like ourselves.

We might be withdrawing from friends and families or sleeping more or less than we usually do. In this case, our coping skills may need some work.

Third, in instances when we have lost a loved one or something else important to us, whether due to death or divorce, the grief may be too much to process. Fourth, a traumatic event may have occurred, such as abuse, a crime, an accident, chronic illness, or rape. Finally, if you have stopped doing the things you enjoy the most. When friends, family, and self-healing are not enough. If you are experiencing any of the aforementioned issues, you should seek help.

Instead of facing the potential stigma of talking to a mental health professional, many people think that talking through their problems with friends or family is just as good. Though you will ultimately need these people to see you through your recovery, they do not have the training and years of experience that a psychologist or similar professional has.

You also should not wait to recover on your own. It is not a failure to admit you need help, and there could be a biological issue that makes it almost impossible to heal yourself. What exactly is psychotherapy? The client-therapist relationship. What is the ideal client-therapist relationship? You and your psychologist will work together to identify and change the thought and behavior patterns that are keeping you from feeling your best.

So how do you find a psychotherapist? Several strategies may prove fruitful. Once you find a list of psychologists or other practitioners, choose the right one for you by determining if you plan on attending alone or with family, what you wish to get out of your time with a psychotherapist, how much your insurance company pays for and if you have to pay out of pocket how much you can afford, when you can attend sessions, and how far you are willing to travel to see the mental health professional.

Once you have done this, make your first appointment. But what should you bring? Even a vague idea of what you want to accomplish can help you and your psychologist proceed efficiently and effectively. What you take depends on the reason for the visit. In terms of what you should expect, you and your therapist will work to develop a full history which could take several visits.

From this, a treatment plan will be developed. After the initial visit, the mental health professional may conduct tests to further understand your condition but will continue talking through the issue. Resilience is a skill that will be taught so that you can better handle future situations. Does it work? How do you know you are finished? Once over, expect to have a periodic check-up with your therapist. This might be weeks or even months after your last session. For more on psychotherapy, please see the very interesting APA article on this matter:.

With the conclusion of Module 3, you now have the necessary foundation to understand each of the groups of disorders we discuss beginning in Module 4 and through Module In Module 3 we reviewed clinical assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.

In terms of assessment, we covered key concepts such as reliability, validity, and standardization; and discussed methods of assessment such as observation, the clinical interview, psychological tests, personality inventories, neurological tests, the physical examination, behavioral assessment, and intelligence tests.

Mental health assessment with the purpose of supporting a diagnosis can include the use of semi-structured diagnostic interviews and validated questionnaires. Items in self-report measures used for diagnosis often bear a close correspondence to criteria specified in the diagnostic manuals ICD and DSM. Psychologists, CBT therapists, and other mental health professionals often ask their clients to complete self-report measures regularly to assess changes in symptom severity.

Tolin, D. While observation, as concept, is generic, behavioural a observation is specific to human behaviour. In behavioural observation, the observer whether a clinician or a teacher, observes the individual and records the frequency of the specific or target behaviour as well as any other relevant factors associated with the behaviour. For example, a behavioural observer of a hyperactive child might count and record the number of times, say in 5 minutes, the child gets out of his seat.

Usually events that precede the target behaviour are referred to as antecedents, and events following the behaviour are called consequences. Both the antecedents and consequences are usually recorded and analyzed in order to understand the target behaviour better. In the case of the hyperactive child getting out of his seat, some of the antecedent behaviours could be that he was mocked by his seat mates, or he was asked some questions by the teacher or he was unable to understand the lesson, and so on.

Under the circumstance, he joins the patients in their kind of plays and games for many session during which he can observe and record his experiences. He then adopts any appropriate observation method through which information could be obtaine about the target behaviour of the subjects. Observation cuts across all forms of scientific study human behaviour and things, both inside and outside the laboratory.

The scientist makes critical observation of h experimental set-up in order to obtain results. Observation is a common denominator in all forms of investigation o enquiry. Observation, as a means of study of human behaviour uses anecdotal records, rating scales and checklists to record observational results or outcomes. Apart from behavioural observation by the investigator the subject or client can be instructed to observe himself herself. This is referred to as self-observation or Self-monitoring, Self-monitoring is a technique in which the subject keeps a record of details especially frequency of specified behaviours as well as the antecedents and consequences of such behaviours.

The technique guides both the client and clinician to gain more knowledge and information about the behaviour problem. Self-monitoring is also a useful technique in behaviour modification. The same would be true of a test such as the Graduate Record Exam GRE and its ability to predict graduate school performance.

Finally, we want to make sure that the experience one patient has when taking a test or being assessed is the same as another patient taking the test the same day or on a different day, and with either the same tester or another tester. Equally important is that mental health professionals interpret the results of the testing in the same way or otherwise it will be unclear what the meaning of a specific score is.

So how do we assess patients in our care? We will discuss psychological tests, neurological tests, the clinical interview, behavioral assessment, and a few others in this section. The interview may be unstructured in which open-ended questions are asked, structured in which a specific set of questions according to an interview schedule are asked, or semi-structured , in which there is a pre-set list of questions but clinicians are able to follow up on specific issues that catch their attention.

A mental status examination is used to organize the information collected during the interview and to systematically evaluate the client through a series of observations and questions assessing appearance and behavior e.

The exam covers areas not normally part of the interview and allows the mental health professional to determine which areas need to be examined further. The limitation of the interview is that it lacks reliability, especially in the case of the unstructured interview. Projective tests consist of simple ambiguous stimuli that can elicit an unlimited number of responses. They include the Rorschach test or inkblot test and the Thematic Apperception Test which requires the individual to write a complete story about each of 20 cards shown to them and give details about what led up to the scene depicted, what the characters are thinking, what they are doing, and what the outcome will be.

Another projective test is the sentence completion test and asks individuals to finish an incomplete sentence. Personality inventories ask clients to state whether each item in a long list of statements applies to them, and could ask about feelings, behaviors, or beliefs. These inventories have the advantage of being easy to administer by either a professional or the individual taking it, are standardized, objectively scored, and are completed either on the computer or through paper and pencil.

That said, personality cannot be directly assessed and so you can never completely know the individual on the basis of these inventories. Neurological tests are also used to diagnose cognitive impairments caused by brain damage due to tumors, infections, or head injury; or changes in brain activity.

Patients then lie on a scanning table while a ring-shaped machine is positioned over their head. Images are produced that yield information about the functioning of the brain.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI produces 3D images of the brain or other body structures using magnetic fields and computers. They are used to detect structural abnormalities such as brain and spinal cord tumors or nervous system disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Finally, computed tomography or the CT scan involves taking X-rays of the brain at different angles that are then combined.

They are used to detect structural abnormalities such as brain tumors and brain damage caused by head injuries. Many mental health professionals recommend the patient see their family physician for a physical examination which is much like a check-up.