psychological testing use?

[gaki]

How often is psychological testing used in usual clinical treatment? When is it routinely used? I know there are different tests but I don't know much about them. I think my question involves more inventories and such rather than projective tests.

I saw in another thread that someone drew a relationship between psychologists being more accurate diagnosticians and their ability to administer and interperet psychological tests.

But I have sought out people who have have had care from both psychiatrists and psychologists for various mood disorders, but say that they have never been given any kind of inventory or anything like that. One of them guessed that it was not usually given because of the costs to the patient/client.

Or maybe i have bad information?

Thanks in advance.

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[PsychMode]

How often is psychological testing used in usual clinical treatment? When is it routinely used? I know there are different tests but I don't know much about them. I think my question involves more inventories and such rather than projective tests.

I saw in another thread that someone drew a relationship between psychologists being more accurate diagnosticians and their ability to administer and interperet psychological tests.

But I have sought out people who have have had care from both psychiatrists and psychologists for various mood disorders, but say that they have never been given any kind of inventory or anything like that. One of them guessed that it was not usually given because of the costs to the patient/client.

Or maybe i have bad information?

Thanks in advance.

this website is the best.

I think that is true where psychological testing is often not used due to cost. Psychiatrists can get training in psychological testing but sometimes that is not the case. They even teach assessment in master's degree programs, but from what I've seen the overall training is not as good. In terms of clinical psychopathology, I don't think anyone said that psychologists were better than psychiatrists at diagnosing psychiatric disorders. They are usually better trained in the psychosocial aspects of it than psychiatrists, where psychiatrists receive training that emphasizes the bio aspect.

With neuropsychology, neurologists sometimes refer patients to neuropsychologists or the patients get referred to a neuropsychologist some of other way. In that arena, specifically, it was stated that neuropsychologists provide differential diagnoses for some of these types of disorder.

 

[lazure]

But I have sought out people who have have had care from both psychiatrists and psychologists for various mood disorders, but say that they have never been given any kind of inventory or anything like that. One of them guessed that it was not usually given because of the costs to the patient/client.


I can only speak for psychologists. A thorough assessment is imperative at the beginning of treatment so that the psychologist understands the client's presenting problems. A big part of this is the diagnostic interview that I am sure your friends received. I have been taught that a responsible psychologist will supplement the diagnostic interview with valid assessment tools such as self-report questionnaires (e.g., BDI, MMPI). Psychological testing such as intelligence testing is more routinely done with children and adolescents given that their psychopathology is more likely to have an impact on their academic performance. Also, adult clients tend to present on their own so there is no opportunity to interview/assess their parents/partners...

 

[PublicHealth]

Psychiatrists tend to base their diagnoses and treatment plans on the psychiatric interview (http://www.mrcpsych.com/psychiatric_interview danny smith.htm) and accompanying physical diagnosis and lab results. Psychologic testing is typically done in the form of a structured interview (usually the SCID but also other instruments such as the BDI, STAI, etc.) with patients who are difficult to diagnose and for whom a systematic and structured psychologic/psychiatric evaluation is needed. Armed with this information, psychiatrists can then treat the patient accordingly. Follow-up administration of structured instruments also gives the clinician information regarding effectiveness of treatment. However, the time-consuming nature of such structured evaluations usually precludes psychiatrists from doing or requesting them, though they're more commonly employed in outpatient settings.

Neuropsychologic assessment is often used to differentially diagnose difficult neurologic or psychiatric cases, as this type of assessment is more sensitive to functional brain impairment than neuroimaging tests such as MRI or CAT. This is especially true in cases of mild cognitive impairment / early Alzheimer's Disease, brain injury (e.g., traumatic, stroke-induced), learning disabilities, autism and related social-cognitive disorders, neurotoxic exposures, aphasias, Lyme Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease, and other disorders in which neurocognitive sequelae are present. It is also used to evaluate neurocognitive functioning before and after neurosurgical intervention (e.g., epilepsy, http://info.med.yale.edu/neurosur/clinical/neuropsychology.html) as well as in cortical mapping prior to neurosurgery. In sum, neuropsychologic assessment is useful in providing a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of brain function as opposed to structure in a wide variety of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Here's a good synopsis:

http://www.bapta.com/np_testing.htm

Worth noting: "Neuropsychological testing is viewed by insurance companies and HMO's as medical diagnostics, not as a mental health issue. They reimburse at the same rate as other medical specialties. Using neuropsychological tests early in the diagnostic decision tree can save money by avoiding unnecessary diagnostic imaging."