Psychological Assessment - Notes
Lecture 1
What is Psychological Assessment?
● The process a mental health professional follows of gathering and processing
information about a client including the phase of establishing an indication for
treatment.
Goals = 2 areas of competence
● 1. Psychological practice; the practicing scientist
○ Concerns systematic, substantiated diagnostic judgments and
decision-making
● 2. Communication and professionalism in entering into a helping relationship
○ Concerns counseling and treatment relationships in the diagnostic context
1. Psychological practice; the practicing scientist
● A shared decision-making process in which a clinician (1) defines diagnostic
questions, (2) formulates and (3) tests hypotheses about the client’s functioning, and
(4) integrates the information collected from different science-based sources and
methods, resulting in a representation and understanding of the problem that is
shared with the client.
● De Groot’s empirical cycle:
○ Observation → collection of information
○ Induction → formulate hypotheses, based on
theory
○ Deduction → derive testable predictions
○ Testing hypotheses and predictions
○ Evaluation of the process and its outcome
2. Communication and professionalism in entering into a helping relationship
● Underlying attitudes in helping
○ Self-actualization → the caregiver facilitates the client to help themselves
○ Pitfall for the caregiver: “I have to do something / I must help”
, ● Unconditional positive regard (Rogers)
○ Appreciate the client as a person with value and dignity
○ How? → show commitment towards the client (being on time, privacy, trust)
and making an effort to understand the client (asking questions, active
listening)
○ Unconditional acceptance → don’t reject feelings / thoughts, NOT
unconditionally approved but taking client’s point of view seriously, assume
good intentions / willingness, helper should check own feelings towards the
client
○ Reflect on thought, feeling, behavior of (1) the counselor, or (2) the client, or
(3) their relationship
● Genuineness / authenticity (Rogers)
○ The helper isn’t trying to fit in a role, they are themselves
○ How? → no emphasis on helper’s role, authority and status, congruence:
words and behaviors of helper are consistent, acknowledging positive/negative
feelings in sessions,
○ Other key facets: spontaneity, not saying every thought that comes to mind,
openness and self-disclosure
● Empathy (Rogers)
○ Showing that you understand what the other person is going through
○ Being open to the client → own vulnerabilities / personality, preferences,
circumstances
General Clinical Communication Skills
● 1. Non-selective listening skills
○ Non-verbal following
○ Verbal following, silences
● 2. Selective listening skills
○ Asking questions
○ Paraphrasing
○ Reflection of feeling
○ Concreteness
○ Summarising
, ● 3. Regulating skills
○ Opening the conversation and making initial contact
○ Linking back to goals
○ Clarify the situation
○ Thinking out loud
○ Finishing the conversation
■ Clarify the time in advance
■ Announce when time is almost up
■ Use summary or ask client to summarize
■ Use meta-conversation (especially in the first session to get client’s
experience of the session)
● Skills in nuancing:
○ Interpreting
○ Confronting
○ Positive relabelling
○ Giving information
Witteman: Chapter 1
Psychological Assessment: Definition and Introduction
● The following steps of the empirical cycle are followed in all phases:
○ (1) Formulating hypotheses
○ (2) Formulating verifiable predictions based on these hypotheses
○ (3) Choosing the instruments to be used to test these hypotheses
○ (4) Determining the testing criterion or the expected scores on the instruments
○ (5) Administering methods and instruments and scoring and interpreting their
results
○ (6) Evaluating and confirming or refuting the hypotheses based on the results
Lecture 1
What is Psychological Assessment?
● The process a mental health professional follows of gathering and processing
information about a client including the phase of establishing an indication for
treatment.
Goals = 2 areas of competence
● 1. Psychological practice; the practicing scientist
○ Concerns systematic, substantiated diagnostic judgments and
decision-making
● 2. Communication and professionalism in entering into a helping relationship
○ Concerns counseling and treatment relationships in the diagnostic context
1. Psychological practice; the practicing scientist
● A shared decision-making process in which a clinician (1) defines diagnostic
questions, (2) formulates and (3) tests hypotheses about the client’s functioning, and
(4) integrates the information collected from different science-based sources and
methods, resulting in a representation and understanding of the problem that is
shared with the client.
● De Groot’s empirical cycle:
○ Observation → collection of information
○ Induction → formulate hypotheses, based on
theory
○ Deduction → derive testable predictions
○ Testing hypotheses and predictions
○ Evaluation of the process and its outcome
2. Communication and professionalism in entering into a helping relationship
● Underlying attitudes in helping
○ Self-actualization → the caregiver facilitates the client to help themselves
○ Pitfall for the caregiver: “I have to do something / I must help”
, ● Unconditional positive regard (Rogers)
○ Appreciate the client as a person with value and dignity
○ How? → show commitment towards the client (being on time, privacy, trust)
and making an effort to understand the client (asking questions, active
listening)
○ Unconditional acceptance → don’t reject feelings / thoughts, NOT
unconditionally approved but taking client’s point of view seriously, assume
good intentions / willingness, helper should check own feelings towards the
client
○ Reflect on thought, feeling, behavior of (1) the counselor, or (2) the client, or
(3) their relationship
● Genuineness / authenticity (Rogers)
○ The helper isn’t trying to fit in a role, they are themselves
○ How? → no emphasis on helper’s role, authority and status, congruence:
words and behaviors of helper are consistent, acknowledging positive/negative
feelings in sessions,
○ Other key facets: spontaneity, not saying every thought that comes to mind,
openness and self-disclosure
● Empathy (Rogers)
○ Showing that you understand what the other person is going through
○ Being open to the client → own vulnerabilities / personality, preferences,
circumstances
General Clinical Communication Skills
● 1. Non-selective listening skills
○ Non-verbal following
○ Verbal following, silences
● 2. Selective listening skills
○ Asking questions
○ Paraphrasing
○ Reflection of feeling
○ Concreteness
○ Summarising
, ● 3. Regulating skills
○ Opening the conversation and making initial contact
○ Linking back to goals
○ Clarify the situation
○ Thinking out loud
○ Finishing the conversation
■ Clarify the time in advance
■ Announce when time is almost up
■ Use summary or ask client to summarize
■ Use meta-conversation (especially in the first session to get client’s
experience of the session)
● Skills in nuancing:
○ Interpreting
○ Confronting
○ Positive relabelling
○ Giving information
Witteman: Chapter 1
Psychological Assessment: Definition and Introduction
● The following steps of the empirical cycle are followed in all phases:
○ (1) Formulating hypotheses
○ (2) Formulating verifiable predictions based on these hypotheses
○ (3) Choosing the instruments to be used to test these hypotheses
○ (4) Determining the testing criterion or the expected scores on the instruments
○ (5) Administering methods and instruments and scoring and interpreting their
results
○ (6) Evaluating and confirming or refuting the hypotheses based on the results
