Psychological Evaluations
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 a 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 a 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 interfering 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 how 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.
