Psychological Assessment Overview

Assessment

• It’s a process of gathering information about people's symptoms and possible causes of symptoms.
• Clinical Assessment: involves evaluating various psychological, biological, and social factors.
• Assessments need to meet three criteria: Reliability, Validity, and Standardization

Reliability

• The tests consistency in measuring what it’s supposed to.
• Types include:
  • Parallel-Forms Reliability: Consistency between two different versions of the same test, measuring the same thing.
  • Internal Consistency Reliability: How well the items on a test measure the same underlying concept.

Validity

• How accurately a test assesses what it’s supposed to.
• Face validity is how well a test appears to measure what it’s supposed to, at face value.

Brain Dysfunction

• It can occur due to injury or diseases that deteriorate the brain.
• In Schizophrenia, the cerebral cortex doesn't function effectively resulting in delusions (unreal beliefs) and hallucinations (unreal perceptual experiences).

Biochemical Imbalances

• The brain requires specific chemicals for efficient functioning; neurotransmitters and hormones.

Neurotransmitters

• These are chemical messengers that allow neurons to communicate.
• There are a dozen different neurotransmitters produced by neurons.
• Neurotransmitters can have two effects: Excitatory and Inhibitory.
  • Excitatory neurotransmitters increase the likelihood that the next nerve cell will send a signal.
  • Inhibitory neurotransmitters decrease the likelihood that the next nerve cell will send a signal.

Hormones

• Substances secreted by endocrine glands regulating a wide range of bodily processes and affecting organs, muscles, and other glands.

Neurotransmitters

• There are two processes that affect the levels of neurotransmitters in the synapses:
  • Reuptake: Neurotransmitters are absorbed back into the sending nerve cell.
  • Degradation: Enzymes break down the neurotransmitters in the synapses (the gap between nerve cells)

Bipolar Depression

• A mood disorder with wide swings in mood from deep depression to wild elation.

Unipolar Depression

• This disorder is categorized into two groups: Major Depressive Disorder and Dysthymic Disorder.

Major Depressive Disorder

• Symptoms include depressed mood or loss of interest/pleasure for at least two weeks.
• The person must have at least five symptoms from a specific list.
• People who experience only one depressive episode are diagnosed with major depression, single episode.

Dysthymic Disorder

• Less severe than major depression but more chronic.
• Requires a person to experience depressed mood and at least two of a list of symptoms for at least 2 years.

Cyclothymia

• A history of hypomanic episodes with periods of depression that do not meet criteria for major depressive disorders.

Treatments:

• Client-Centered therapy: The therapist communicates empathic understanding of the client's feelings and search for self.
• Family System therapy: Treats the entire family system that created and maintains the individual's problems.
• Behavioral Family Systems Therapy: Targets problem-solving, family communication, and systematic barriers to problem-solving.
• Emotion-Focused Therapy: Focuses on difficulties in managing negative emotions and controlling impulsive behaviors.
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Combines mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

Psychological Treatments for Suicide:

• Aimed at alleviating symptoms, recognizing triggers, reducing negative expressed emotion, recognizing prodromal symptoms before recurrence, and maintaining remission.
• Cognitive Behavioral therapy, Family-Focused therapy, and Psychoeducation have the most evidence for efficacy in regard to relapse prevention.
• Interpersonal and Social Rhythm therapy, and Cognitive behavioral therapy are the most effective in regard to residual depressive episodes.

Theories on Suicide:

• A vital neurotransmitter, Serotonin, has been found to be lower in those who have attempted suicide.

Psychotherapeutic Talks:

• Therapies, such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), help reduce suicidal ideation and self-harm behaviors.

Sodium Valporate

• Initially an anti-convulsant, it's now commonly used to treat bipolar disorder and is effective for manic episodes.

Carbamazepine

• Widely used to treat Bipolar disorder in the 1980’s, but was replaced by Sodium Valporate in the 1990’s.
• Effective in treating manic episodes, especially for rapid-cycling bipolar disorders, and those with psychotic manic symptoms or a schizoaffective clinical picture.

Lamotrigine

• Shown to be effective in treating bipolar depression and can be beneficial in severe depression.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

• Have beneficial effects on depressive symptoms.

Suicide

• The act of intentionally causing one’s own death.
• A strong correlation exists between suicide and mental illness.
• 87-98% of suicides are committed by people with some type of mental disorder.
• Mood disorders are present in 30%, substance abuse in 18%, schizophrenia in 14%, and personality disorders in 13% of suicides.
• Major depression and alcoholism are the specific disorders most strongly correlated with suicide risk.
• About 5% of people with Schizophrenia die by suicide.
• Suicide often seems to occur, not when individuals are at their most depressed, but rather when they're showing signs of improvement, after a period of calm following considerable agitation.

Can Suicide Be Predicted?

• People who seriously think about suicide have different patterns of thoughts about death and its effects.

Treatments for Suicidal Ideation:

• Psychotherapeutic talks help reduce suicidal ideation.
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is effective for reducing suicidality.

This quiz covers the fundamentals of psychological assessment, including reliability, validity, and the impact of brain dysfunction. Learn about different types of reliability and the importance of standardization in evaluations. Discover how brain injuries or diseases affect mental health assessments.