Assessments are Amazing
Psychological assessment is a dream for someone like me – curious and smart, with a systemic perspective.
As a testing psychologist, I consider multiple sources of data:
Your
History
Including life events, family of origin, culture of origin, significant relationships
Your
Perception
With the clinical interview and testing tools, we can develop a pretty comprehensive understanding of how you see yourself, others, the world, and you in relation to others and the world
Objective
Data
The clinical interview and testing tools clue us in to your level and quality of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral functioning – in your personal and work life, and in your larger community – compared to the majority of other people
Projective
Data
projective tests, such as the Rorschach inkblot test, provide a deeper look into your emotional, cognitive, and behavioral functioning, some of which may be outside of your conscious awareness
As you can imagine, by the end of all that, we have pages and pages of information.
Then the magic begins…!
When the psychologist analyzes the information, it’s not a simple matter of 1 + 1 = 2, because humans are not simple. So, instead of just being able to add 1 + 1 in order to get to 2, it is more like (1 x b/cd – rf + (2b – c)/q) + (1 x rfp + (ad/qc – b)/c+d) = 2.
We take all that information and we are determine how they relate to each other, how they influence each other, how to resolve conflicting information, and how to mold it all into one cohesive picture that makes sense.
I think that this process is truly amazing… but then when you add on the aspect of therapeutic assessment, then this amazing process becomes a transformational journey.
I can’t wait to join you on this adventure!
Therapeutic Asssessment
I’m guessing that all of us have met someone at some point who we had a negative impression of (they’re rude, unfriendly, snobby, dangerous, weird) but then at some point that story gets spun around and you realize that the story was actually much different.
Sort of like when you meet someone who seems to be unfriendly, but you later learn that they are just very awkward and uncomfortable when they first meet people.
What happened there? A negative narrative was converted into an empathetic narrative.
Well, that’s what therapeutic assessment does. We start with someone’s negative story (“I’m too judgmental” “No one wants to be friends with me” “I won’t ever accomplish my goals”), understand the basis for that negative story, and then present an alternative, compassionate story that is supported by the evidence of test data.
My goal is for therapeutic assessment to not only answer your questions, but to also retell your story in a way that is true and helpful, and that inspires hope and change.
You might be able to tell that this is a lot different than traditional therapy or psych testing.
Therapeutic assessment accomplishes three big goals:
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Answers questions. It answers the big question – “What is going on with me” – as well as the smaller questions about your character, your behaviors, your habits, your choices, and your relationships.
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Self-empowers you. It increases your sense of strength and power because we will work arm-in-arm, collaboratively working through the assessment so that we have revelations together and I will treat you as the Subject Matter Expert on you.
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Defines a future path. The assessment does not tell the future (I wish it did!), but it will give us clear ideas about next steps and how to move forward in order to advance into the next version of you.
For those of you that are more visual, check out this chart comparing traditional and therapeutic assessment.
Dr. Dug's Uses of Therapeutic Assessment
Therapeutic Assessment of
AUTISM
In the early days, I used to conduct autism assessments that only looked at the diagnosis of Autism; however, it always left me and my clients feeling like something was incomplete. Clients would often wonder, how much of my traits are due to autism versus something else that might be going on with me? Although that specific question cannot
Therapeutic Assessment of
RELATIONSHIPS
You have probably heard that the success rate for relationship therapy is low; however, I really believe that the deck is stacked against us from the get-go! The clinician (and the clients) are missing key pieces of information that would help the effectiveness of this work. As a board certified Couple and Family Psychologist, I have worked with many relationships over my 20 years in clinical practice. Here are a few scenarios of relationship therapy:
Therapeutic Assessment to aid
PSYCHOTHERAPY
If you are about to start psychotherapy or if you’re already in psychotherapy, but have hit a road block, therapeutic assessment is one way to make sure that psychotherapy is addressing what you actually want it to address. There are a lot of people who seem to easily start psychotherapy, get better, and move on. For others of us, though, it’s just not as clearcut. Maybe your experiences have been more like one of these scenarios: Clients would often wonder, how much of my traits are due to autism versus something else that might be going on with me? Although that specific question cannot