Psychological Assessment In Medical Settings

This volume, the first to specifically address the function of psychologists as practitioners and scientists in medical settings, presents a range of approaches to assessment and diagnostic practice rather than a litany of specific tools, diseases, or diagnostic problems. The comprehensive discussion, augmented by 41 case studies, addresses the psychological assessment of patients and their families using traditional neuropsychological and psychological diagnostic tools in various topic areas and settings. The application of assessment to issues such as ethics and law, professional self-assessment and credentialling, and the communication of diagnostic findings is also discussed.

The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) administers two disability programs: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), for disabled individuals, and their dependent family members, who have worked and contributed to the Social Security trust funds, and Supplemental Security Income (SSSI), which is a means-tested program based on income and financial assets for adults aged 65 years or older and disabled adults and children. Both programs require that claimants have a disability and meet specific medical criteria in order to qualify for benefits. SSA establishes the presence of a medically-determined impairment in individuals with mental disorders other than intellectual disability through the use of standard diagnostic criteria, which include symptoms and signs. These impairments are established largely on reports of signs and symptoms of impairment and functional limitation. Psychological Testing in the Service of Disability Determination considers the use of psychological tests in evaluating disability claims submitted to the SSA. This report critically reviews selected psychological tests, including symptom validity tests, that could contribute to SSA disability determinations. The report discusses the possible uses of such tests and their contribution to disability determinations. Psychological Testing in the Service of Disability Determination discusses testing norms, qualifications for administration of tests, administration of tests, and reporting results. The recommendations of this report will help SSA improve the consistency and accuracy of disability determination in certain cases.

As managed care evolves, the movement toward the integration of behavioral healthcare services into primary medical practices has begun to gain momentum. Primary care providers, in general, are not professionally equipped to identify and monitor mental health and substance abuse problems. Thus, behavioral health care professionals have a new opportunity to make the skills and training they bring to primary care practitioners part of the solution of the health care crisis. Only recently has the value of the services they have been performing for decades and the need to make them available through formal programs been recognized. Addressing opportunity, value, and need, this volume offers a comprehensive overview of the application of psychological screening and assessment instruments in primary care settings. It will be an indispensable reference for psychologists and trainees, as well as for primary care providers who may want to add to their professional armamentarium the techniques and instruments presented herein. The authors: * provide a context for the use of psychological assessment instruments and consultation; * discuss issues related to integrating psychological testing into primary care settings; * describe in detail several brief, disease-specific, and general instruments that those practicing in an integrated delivery system should find useful; * present three in-depth case studies of primary care organizations in which psychological assessment has been implemented; and * take a look at how technology will likely affect and facilitate the use of psychological assessment instruments in primary care settings in the future.

"Overall, this is an excellent guide to the use and administration of psychological tests. It provides straightforward directions and instructions on how to utilize testing in such a way as to better inform clinical practice. I could see this book as a mainstay on any counselorís bookshelf, especially those who are seeking a way to utilize standardized testing in their practice."--The Professional Counselor Journal ìFinally, a detailed and crystal clear guide to psychological assessment that effectively integrates 'best practices' with the realities of negotiating the mental health care system and insurance providers. I plan to draw on this practical guide in my private practice and to incorporate it as a required text in my advanced counseling assessment classes at both the masterís and doctoral level. This book is a treasure for any mental health professional involved in psychological assessment.î Joseph G. Ponterotto, PhD Professor of Counseling Psychology, Fordham University Standardized psychological testing is often essential for reliably determining the presence of a wide range of psychiatric and personality disorders, along with effectively addressing related issues that may require a psychological referral. This nuts-and-bolts guide to conducting efficient and accurate psychological testing in clinical settings provides mental health professionals with experienced guidance in the entire process, and includes a complete set of forms and templates for all aspects of assessment and testing, from the initial referral and diagnostic interview to the final report. Based on the authorís experience with over two thousand psychological and neuropsychological testing cases, this highly practical book presents a standardized process of assessment, testing, interpretation, report-writing, and presenting feedback to patients, family members, and other professionals. Actual case examples of patients from a wide age range illustrate the assessment and testing process in action. The text provides printed and electronic versions of referral and related forms, initial psychological assessment report templates that include critical areas of coverage for obtaining insurance approval, and interpretation tables for an exceptional inventory of key standardized psychological tests. Integral to the book is a review of psychological tests in seven key categories that most effectively address differential diagnostic dilemmas and related referral questions that clinicians are likely to encounter in practice. It also provides effective strategies for selecting the appropriate tests based on the particular diagnostic questions, guidance for successfully obtaining insurance approval for a targeted yet feasible number of testing hours, and an efficient system for simultaneous test interpretation and report writing. Key Features: Includes an overview of the assessment process, from the initial referral to completion of the final report Features effective reviews of commonly used tests, including neuropsychological, intelligence, personality, and behavioral inventories Includes print and digital templates and forms for all phases of assessment and testing Aids clinicians in both private practice and other health care settings to work within managed care and be effectively reimbursed for services Includes information on conducting forensic competency to stand trial assessments, including the authorís new measure of assessing a defendantís understanding of the legal system

For two decades, I have been responding to questions about the nature of health psychology and how it differs from medical psychology, behavioral medicine, and clinical psychology. From the beginning, I have taken the position that any applica tion of psychological theory or practice to problems and issues of the health system is health psychology. I have repeatedly used an analogy to Newell and Simon's "General Problem Solver" program of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which had two major functional parts, in addition to the "executive" component. One was the "problem-solving core" (the procedural competence); the other was the representa tion of the "problem environment. " In the analogy, the concepts, knowledge, and techniques of psychology constitute the core competence; the health system in all its complexity is the problem environment. A health psychologist is one whose basic competence in psychology is augmented by a working knowledge of some aspect of the health system. Quite apparently, there are functionally distinct aspects of health psychology to the degree that there are meaningful subdivisions in psychological competence and significantly different microenvironments within the health system. I hesitate to refer to them as areas of specialization, as the man who gave health psychology its formal definition, Joseph Matarazzo, has said that there are no specialties in psychology (cited in the editors' preface to this book).

This book describes how health psychologists can work as consultants to medical teams by helping patients adjust to illness, and assessing and treating common issues, including depression, anxiety, pain, delirium and end of life care.

Comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date, Psychological Assessment of Children, Second Edition offers step-by-step guidance on the most effective approaches to the psychological and educational assessment of children. Written by leading authorities, this resource covers all the major assessment tools, including the WISC-III, the Woodcock-Johnson Revised, Bender Gestalt, Halstead-Reitan, and Luria-Nebraska; it provides invaluable information on conducting clinical interviews and performing informal assessment. This Second Edition includes new material on curriculum-based assessment and on the assessment of perceptual-motor skills, social skills, autistic disorders, and mental retardation.

We seek to throw down the gauntlet with this handbook, challenging the he gemony of the "behavioral medicine" approach to the psychological study and treatment of the physically ill. This volume is not another in that growing surfeit oftexts that pledge allegiance to the doctrinaire purity of behavioristic thinking, or conceptualize their subject in accord with the sterility of medical models. Diseases are not our focus, nor is the narrow band of behavioral assessment and therapy methodologies. Rather, we have sought to redefine this amorphous, yet burgeoning field so as to place it squarely within the province of a broadly-based psychology-specifically, the emerging, substantive discipline of health psy chology and the well-established professionalism and diverse technologies of clinical psychology. The handbook's title-Clinical Health Psychology-reflects this reorientation explicitly, and Chapter 1 addresses its themes and provides its justifications more fully. In the process of developing a relevant and comprehensive health assess ment tool, the editors were struck by the failure of clinical psychologists to avail themselves of the rich vein of materials that comprise the psychosocial world of the physically ill. Perhaps more dismaying was the observation that this field was being mined-less than optimally-by physicians and nonclinical psychologists.