How is a psychological evaluation performed
What happens during a psychological assessment?
a psychological evaluation is the first
step in receiving treatment an
evaluation will help your psychologist
understand the nature and the severity
of your symptoms determine the correct
diagnosis and make informed
recommendations about treatment options
the most common assessment technique is
called a clinical interview and this
takes approximately 50 minutes which is
also the length of a typical treatment
session during the clinical interview
your psychologist will ask you about the
challenges or symptoms that you've been
experiencing your psychologist will want
to get a sense of how well you're
functioning in different areas of your
life
including at home at work at school and
in your personal relationships you will
be asked questions about the type of
stressors you might be experiencing as
well as any personality traits or
behaviors or emotional problems that
might be contributing to your current
difficulties
the underlying cause of the person's
difficulties is not always clear for
example if you're experiencing
significant changes in your mood or mood
swings this can be caused by a host of
conditions including depression and
anxiety disorder bipolar disorder or
borderline personality disorder to name
a few when the underlying reason for
your symptoms is not clear your
psychologist may recommend a more formal
assessment process this type of
assessment generally takes two to four
hours depending on your needs it
involves completing a series of
questionnaires that will inquire about
your symptoms your psychologist will
then administer something called the
structured clinical interview for the
DSM this is basically a semi structured
diagnostic interview that allows your
clinician to make specific diagnosis of
major mental health disorders like
depression or bipolar disorder for
example as well as personality disorders
which our behavior patterns are
associated with difficulties in a
person's personal social and
occupational life whether you are
undergoing an informal clinical
interview or you're receiving a more
structured assessment the evaluation
will help ensure that you receive
treatment that is specifically tailored
to your needs in most cases the
psychologist who performs your
evaluation will also provide treatment
however there may be instances when your
psychologist may refer you to another
specialist for treatment
there are several things you can do to
prepare for your psychological
evaluation first take note of the
symptoms that you've been experiencing
including examples of how your symptoms
of interfere with your day-to-day life
for example if you experience panic
attacks you might want to consider
describing what you experience during a
panic attack how often your panic
attacks occur and the triggers that seem
to bring on the attacks second if you
have been prescribed any medication or
if you take any recreational drugs it's
helpful to tell your psychologist which
substances you are taking and how it has
affected the way in which you experience
your symptoms if you've had previous
therapy tell your evaluating therapist
what you found helpful or unhelpful so
that they can tailor their approach and
recommendations to best meet your needs
and finally it's a great idea to come to
the evaluation with a sense of the goals
that you hope to achieve during
treatment
