Psychological Assessment

By: Michael G. Conner, Psy.D

Revised: May 21, 2014

Psychological is conducted by a psychologist who has training and experience in personality assessment, intelligence testing and neuropsychological evaluation. Counselors and social workers are generally not qualified by licensure to conduct these evaluations. In some cases they can perform a limited range of testing but this is on a very limited basis. While they may be able to conduct the testing and interpret the results, they are not able (in most states) to make a formal diagnosis and bill insurance for the assessment services provides.

Psychological Assessment

Psychological assessment focuses primarily on personality, behavior and emotional aspects of human functioning. Not all psychologists provide psychological testing for purposes of an evaluation. They simply prefer to refer people to other professionals. Or, they provide only limited testing for purposes of diagnosis and treatment that may include providing therapy. In the same way, psychologist who provide psychological evaluations may not provide neuropsychological testing. This is generally a specialty field but is not necessarily.

Psychological assessment utilizes a number of methods. The first involve the use of objective measure which are usually questionnaires that are true-false, multiple choice or file in the blanks. Projective measures include the subject drawing or copying figure and having the subject respond to ambiguous figures and pictures. In some cases intelligence testing is conducted with the purpose of understand how personality and behavior has developed and is influenced. Psychological testing almost always involved an interview that focuses on the subject's history as well as mental state and motivation in the assessment. In some cases a psychologist will interview other people such as parents, friends or family members. Observations and the perspectives of other people can be useful in some cases.