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Psychological Testings and Assessments
The Purposes and Appropriate Uses of Psychological Assessment
Some of the primary purposes of assessment are to
- Describe current functioning, including cognitive abilities, severity of disturbance, and capacity for independent living.
- Confirm, refute, or modify the impressions formed by clinicians through their less structured interactions with patients.
- Identify therapeutic needs, highlight issues likely to emerge in treatment, recommend forms of intervention, and offer guidance about the likely outcomes.
- Aid in the differential diagnosis of emotional, behavioral, and cognitive disorders.
- Monitor treatment over time to evaluate the success of interventions or to identify new issues that may require attention as original concerns are resolved.
- Manage risk, including minimization of potential legal liabilities and identification of untoward treatment reactions.
- Provide skilled, empathic assessment feedback as a therapeutic intervention in itself.
Tests conducted at our center
Intelligence Tests
Intelligence tests are used to measure intelligence, or your ability to understand your environment, interact with it, and learn from it. Intelligence tests include:
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
- Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
Personality Tests
Personality tests are used to measure personality style and traits. Personality tests are commonly used in research or to assist with clinical diagnoses. Examples of personality tests include:
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Thematic Apperception Test
- Rorschach, also known as the 'inkblot test'
- Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III): The MCMI-III is specifically used to arrive at a DSM-IV PD diagnosis and personality traits – (adaptive and maladaptive ).
NEO PI 3:
The NEO-PI-3 was designed to provide a comprehensive description of normal personality. The NEO-PI-3 is very often used in counselling and clinical settings with adolescents and adults, business and industrial settings, and for psychological research, including studies in sport psychology.
Aptitude Tests
Aptitude tests such as the Thurstone Scale, are used to measure how an individual feels about a particular event, place, person, or object.
Achievement tests are used to measure how well you understand a particular topic (i.e., mathematics achievement tests). Aptitude tests are used to measure your abilities in a specific area (i.e. clerical skills).
Aptitude tests include:
- Differntial Aptitude Test (DAT)
- David Battery of Differential Ability (DBDA)
Psychological testing in schools helps place students in appropriate learning environments. Psychological tests enable mental health professionals to make diagnosis more reliably, validly and quickly than they can from personal observation alone. Tests can uncover problems that a mental health professional may not detect until much later. This allows the clinician to focus on the appropriate treatment more quickly, thereby saving time and money for the patients or clients.
Many parents and teachers regard psychological testing in schools as an advantageous practice that supports children in achieving success in school. If children have undiagnosed psychological, emotional or behavioral difficulties, psychological testing can detect these challenges and help school place students in the best learning environments to meet their needs. Due to this they can be challenged and motivated to grow both intellectually and personally. Psychological testing in schools can identify students with disabilities or delayed skills and determine their eligibility for receiving individualized lesson plans.
Psychological assessment is used by variety of professionals, in variety of setting and for different purposes.
Psychological testing — also called psychological assessment — is the foundation of how psychologists better understand a person and their behavior. It is a process of problem solving for many professionals — to try and determine the core components of a person’s psychological or mental health problems, personality, IQ, or some other component. It is also a process that helps identifies not just weaknesses of a person, but also their strengths.Psychological testing measures an individual’s performance at a specific point in time — right now. Psychologists talk about a person’s “present functioning” in terms of their test data. Therefore psychological tests can’t predict future or innate potential.
All the tests used in our clinic have been well researched and have empirical evidence. Time taken for each test is around 30 mins to 1/12 hours depending on what kind of test is being administered. In our clinical experience, there are a plethora of circumstances requiring psychological testing either to confirm or rule out a particular diagnosis and / or assisting psychological and behavioural management. A single psychological test is not used for all the clients . It is not a case of "one size fits all." A Psychologist's experience helps to decide what test to be used to understand the presenting problem.
Who conducts them?
Psychological testing is always conducted by a licensed clinical psychologist as they have received expert training to conduct and interpret them.