unt 2- 3

Next homework assignment focusing on systems of psychotherapy is due next Wednesday.
The upcoming unit, starting Friday, will focus on treatments for children.
Homework is centered around the story of Valerie, with prescribed reading and application of various treatment methods specifically for opioid use disorder.

Instructions: Apply six different psychotherapy treatments to the case study of Valerie, who demonstrates symptoms of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and opioid use disorder.
Treatments to Apply:
1. Medications
  - Identify medications that could be effective for treating hyperactivity and impulsivity.
2. Behavior Therapy
  - Describe actions a behavioral therapist might take to address opioid use disorder.
3. Cognitive Therapy
  - Discuss approaches a cognitive therapist would use.
4. Interpersonal Therapy
  - Explain how an interpersonal therapist would engage with Valerie.
5. Family Therapy
  - Detail the methods a family therapist would employ in this case.
6. Psychodynamic Therapy
  - Elaborate on the psychotherapy techniques suited for Valerie under psychodynamic theory.
Sources: Students should use the textbook and outside resources to explain therapies and ensure they apply them specifically to opioid use disorder.

The last class focused on cognitive assessments, primarily concerning intelligence tests, mean, and standard deviation.
Discussed the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Test and personality assessment indicators:
- Defined personality and its impact on children's behavioral assessments.
- Covered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and its adolescent scales, highlighting how it's scored (using P scores as a key component).
- Introduced the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children (BASC), noting similarities in scoring with the MMPI.

Today's class focuses on the concepts of validity in assessment measures, contrasting this with reliability.
Validity: The extent to which a measurement tool accurately measures what it intends to measure.

Face Validity
- Definition: Refers to whether a test appears, on the surface, to measure what it claims to measure, even without empirical evidence.
Construct Validity
- Definition: Assesses whether a test truly measures the theoretical construct that it aims to measure.
Content Validity
- Definition: The degree to which a test includes items that are relevant to the construct being measured.
Predictive Validity
- Definition: The ability of a test to accurately predict future behaviors or outcomes based on its scores.

Reliability: Refers to the consistency of scores over time. A reliable test will yield the same results under consistent conditions.
- For example, if a test is readministered after a week, results should be similar, indicating high reliability if scores correlate closely.

Historical examples of intelligence tests included skills deemed relevant in the past that are considered obsolete today (e.g., accuracy in hitting targets or measuring reaction time).

The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) is a widely used tool assessing depressive symptoms in children. Items include:
1. "I am sad all the time."
2. "I am cranky all the time."
3. "I have trouble sleeping every night."
Discussion on the content validity raised concerns regarding the relevance of items, especially with respect to the context of depression.

To establish construct validity, psychologists compare scores from the new test with scores from other similar or dissimilar measures.
For example, a child's intelligence test scores correlated positively with academic performance but negatively with physical fitness tests, establishing convergent and discriminative validity respectively.

Positive Predictive Power (PPP) for the CDI: 77%, indicating that children scoring high on the CDI are likely to have depression (23% may not)
Negative Predictive Power (NPP) for the CDI: 83%, ensuring that those with low scores on the CDI are unlikely to have depression (17% could still have it).

Discussion on the impracticality of achieving 100% predictive power due to individual differences, the complex nature of constructs, and limitations in self-reporting.

Introduction of dimensional classification in the DSM-5, which considers disorders along a spectrum from mild to severe.
- This reflects an enhanced understanding of severity and provides more information than categorical classifications.
Specification of conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) using dimensional assessment for symptom severity impacts treatment approaches.

Specifiers can indicate onset timing (e.g., childhood vs. adolescent) which can influence prognosis.

Maintaining that DSM lacks integration of environmental context in diagnosis, failing to account for adaptations in behavior that might be justified situationally (e.g., maladaptive behaviors resulting from trauma may initially be adaptive).
Discusses how this context-orientated criticism highlights the limitations of a purely categorical approach to mental health diagnosis.
Example given of maladaptive behaviors (mistrust and defensiveness) due to environmental trauma affecting social relationships in later contexts.

The session wrapped up emphasizing the importance of considering both valid assessment tools and contextual factors in understanding child psychotherapy and treatment plans.