Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis Practice

Flashcards covering psychological assessment methods, reliability/validity concepts, specific tests (intelligence, projective, objective), neurophysical exams, and diagnostic classification approaches from Chapter 4.

Psychological assessment

A process where clinicians use psychological tests, observation, and interviews to develop a summary of the client’s symptoms and problems.

Clinical diagnosis

The process by which a clinician evaluates and classifies the patient’s symptoms according to a clearly defined diagnostic system such as the DSM-5-TR.

Reliability

The degree to which an assessment measure produces the same result each time it is used to evaluate the same thing; a measure of consistency.

Test-retest reliability

Whether a test result gives a similar value today as it did a few days earlier.

Inter-rater reliability

The degree to which different clinicians agree on the diagnosis that should be assigned to summarize the symptoms of a particular patient.

Validity

The extent to which a measuring instrument actually measures what it’s supposed to measure (accuracy).

Standardization

The process by which a psychological test is administered, scored, and interpreted in a consistent manner and applied the same way to all persons.

Presenting problem

The major symptoms and behavior the client is experiencing that lead them to seek help.

Dynamic formulation

A consistent and meaningful picture of the patient’s personality, disposition, and situational context, including hypotheses about what drives maladaptive behavior.

Cultural competence

The ability to understand, appreciate, and engage with people who have backgrounds, culture, or beliefs different from one’s own.

Structured Clinical Interview

An interview that follows a predetermined format with no deviation to maximize reliability and allow responses to be quantified.

Semi-Structured Clinical Interview

An interview where the interviewer asks questions in a specific order but is allowed to ask follow-up questions to obtain more information.

Unstructured Clinical Interview

Subjective interviews that do not follow predetermined questions and are influenced by the habits and theoretical views of the interviewer.

Analogue situations

Controlled behavioral settings, such as staged role-playing or event reenactment, designed to yield information about a person’s adaptive strategies.

Self-monitoring

Self-observation and objective reporting of behavior, thoughts, and feelings as they occur in various naturalistic settings.

Rating scales

A formal structure for organizing information from clinical observations and self-reports to encourage reliability and minimize observer inferences.

Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)

An objective method of rating clinical symptoms providing scores on $18$ variables, widely used for assessing the presence and severity of psychiatric symptoms.

Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD)

A rating scale similar to the BPRS but specifically targeted for selecting research subjects who are clinically depressed.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-IV)

The most commonly used test for measuring adult intelligence, consisting of verbal and performance material across $15$ subtests.

Projective Personality Tests

Unstructured tests relying on ambiguous stimuli where individuals project their own problems, motives, and wishes onto the situation.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

A projective test using ten inkblot pictures to elicit responses that reveal an individual's personality characteristics.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

A projective test consisting of a series of $20$ cards with ambiguous pictures where subjects are asked to make up stories about them.

Sentence Completion Test

A projective test where the client responds freely to word stems, helping examiners pinpoint clues to problems, attitudes, and symptoms.

Objective Personality Tests

Structured tests typically using questionnaires or self-report inventories with specify alternative responses to enhance reliability.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

The most widely used personality test for clinical and forensic assessment, utilizing validity scales and empirical keying.

Empirical keying

The process of selecting and weighing test items based on their ability to statistically differentiate between groups with known different outcomes.

The Halstead-Reitan Battery

A group of neurophysical tests including the Halstead Category Test, Rhythm Test, and Tactual Performance Test used to measure cognitive and motor performance.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

A graphical record of the brain’s electrical activity obtained by placing electrodes on the scalp; has good temporal resolution.

Computed tomography (CT)

A specialized technique using X-ray measurements combined at various angles to provide detailed structural information about the brain or body.

fMRI (functional MRI)

An imaging technique that measures the difference in magnetic signals between oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to identify active brain areas.

PET (positron emission tomography) scans

An imaging method involving the injection of radioactive material to examine brain metabolism or blood flow under various conditions.

Comorbidity

The concurrent presence of two or more disorders in the same person.

Categorical Approach

A classification approach that seeks to classify behavior into distinct, healthy versus disordered categories.

Dimensional Approach

An approach assuming that behavior is a product of differing strengths or intensities along definable dimensions like mood or aggressiveness.

Prototypal Approach

A classification system based on a conceptual identity that represents a theoretically ideal case to which individuals are compared.

Symptom

A patient’s subjective description of what is wrong (e.g., 'I am sad').

Sign

An objective, visible indicator of a condition (e.g., crying).

Research Domain Criteria (RDOC)

A 'transdiagnostic' research framework organized by phenomena that exist across different disorders rather than specific diagnostic categories.

Anhedonia

The reduced ability to experience pleasure, often seen in depression and anorexia.

Polygenic

Influenced by multiple genes or multiple polymorphisms (naturally occurring variations) rather than a single gene.

Additive model (Diathesis-stress)

A model where diathesis and stress are parallel; a person with no diathesis can still develop a disorder if stress is high enough.

Interactive model (Diathesis-stress)

A model showing a fanning effect where some amount of diathesis is required before stress will influence the development of a disorder.