Psychology 2030A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Rorschach Test, Differential Diagnosis, Comprehensive School

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2030A/B
• Professor: David Vollick

Document Summary

The patients age, medical condition, and description of his or her symptoms strongly influence the tools selected for assessment, but the psychologist"s theoretical perspective also affects the scope of the assessment. Although it is not the purpose of patient evaluation, the process of assessment sometimes has a therapeutic effect: as people begin to understand their emotions, behaviours and the links between them, their symptoms tend to improve. Chart of how to find a good screening tool. A clinical assessment that leads to a diagnosis usually includes the evaluation of symptom and disorder severity, patterns of symptoms over time, and the patient"s strengths and weaknesses. The same measures must be administered consistently over the course of treatment (individual measures should represent a range of outcomes. Both the degree of change and the patient"s actual level of functioning after treatment must be assessed. Clinical significance- the observed change actually is a meaningful improvement (reliable change index)