Psychological Testing 101 (Part 1)
Crystal Dixon, PsyD
What is testing?
Psychological testing, also referred to as “assessment” or “evaluation,” is a type of mental health service provided by clinical psychologists who are specially trained in this area. They use a variety of different tests, interviewing methods, and observations to arrive at a diagnosis or clinical conceptualization and provide treatment recommendations for your providers. Testing is not treatment, but it is used as an aid for clinicians who do provide your treatment.
What types of mental health concerns can be assessed?
Testing can explore different types of functioning such as cognitive (e.g. traumatic brain injury), neurodevelopmental (e.g. autism; learning disorders; ADHD), mental/emotional/behavioral (e.g. bipolar disorder; OCD; PTSD), personality disorders (e.g. borderline personality disorder), and other psychological characteristics through the use of standardized measures.
Can my therapist or psychiatrist not diagnose me instead?
Absolutely! Both of those types of clinicians are qualified to diagnose mental health disorders. However, everyone’s training differs, and not every clinician feels comfortable with the full spectrum of the DSM-5 (our current manual of classified disorders). There are different reasons why they may choose to refer out when needing diagnostic clarification. It may be for a certain disorder that they are less familiar with, or they may lack the resources in their particular office setting. In some cases, they may not have enough time in a regular session to conduct a necessary diagnostic assessment. There are time constraints and limitations in every work setting, so sometimes it’s more efficient for them to refer clients for full evaluation elsewhere. If your therapist also happens to be a psychologist who does testing at their office, they would also need to refer you out to due to natural biases that form from already working with you in a different capacity (but they can still provide a diagnosis without testing, so feel free to discuss your options with them!).
Regardless of whether your therapist or psychiatrist is able to provide you with a diagnosis using other methods, psychological testing is the most comprehensive and objective form of diagnostic assessment our current mental health system offers. It combines multiple techniques (such as interviews, questionnaires, and psychological instruments) that takes multiple hours to administer, score, and interpret. These instruments are not invasive and do not involve physical contact, such as drawing blood for lab work. They are “task” oriented, and some even say they feel like little games or puzzles and are fun! These methods provide both qualitative and quantifiable data about an individual’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses, social and personal experiences, and mood and behaviors to describe psychological functioning. Altogether each technique used provides multiple data points that help to uncover underlying issues that may not be apparent through verbal communication or self-reported questionnaires alone.
What about those online evaluations? Are they valid?
Online assessments have become popular in recent years. They provide wonderful access to folks who may not otherwise be able to attend an in-person evaluation. However, the concept of online assessment has not been standardized at this time, which means the entire evaluation can look a multitude of ways. If it does not meet certain requirements in a protocol that a traditional psychological evaluation would include, then the results may not be as robust. Online assessments may or may not use the psychological instruments described above, as they require meeting in person at an office to administer. For certainty, online assessments lack the personalized and interactive nature of traditional testing, and may not capture the nuances of an individual’s behavior or provide the context for their responses. What an online assessment may entail depends entirely on the individual provider, so if you are choosing this path, make sure to ask detailed questions during your consultation on their specific process, and potential limitations that may hinder the results.
Jump over to Psychological Testing 101 (Part 2), which you can find here, to learn:
When testing would be helpful
What to expect from psychological testing
How to get started!