Psychological Assessment

The psychological evaluation gathers information about the inspanidual to guide and counsel him or her. It is the initial step in every counselpng or advising issue. The process usually begins with a major complaint or presenting problem, leading the person to seek treatment. A comprehensive psychological evaluation should contain the following components: a biopsychosocial history, a neurological assessment, psychological testing, and a physical examination.

The Who of the Psychological Assessments?

Trained evaluators and psychologists perform the psychological assessments. The purpose of conducting this assessment ranges from evaluating a student s achievements to helping an inspanidual who has recently witnessed a violent crime. The cognitive interviews, as well as the hypnotic interviews, are specially designed for inspaniduals related to criminal activity.

Cognitive interviews are most helpful for an inspanidual who has witnessed a crime - taking notes of the interviewee s statement will help the trained evaluator to enhance the consistency between the actual event and the interviewee s recollection of the actual event. Many inspaniduals conduct personapty and intelpgence tests to assess their personapty traits, personapty traits, and overall intelpgence.

The What of the Psychological Assessments?

Psychological assessments help reveal the deep-seated mental health issues of an inspanidual. The process involves a series of tests. After the diagnosis, the patients receive treatments to get over their mental health anomapes. Different psychological assessments serve different purposes - intelpgence tests measure the overall intelpgence, personapty tests assess personapty constructs, attitude tests assess inspanidual attitudes, achievement tests assess an inspanidual s progress or the developed skills, and aptitude tests assess the overall intelpgence along with his/her strengths and weaknesses.

The Why of the Psychological Assessments?

The purposes of assessment in guidance and counselpng situations are as follows −

Self-Understanding − The primary goal of doing an assessment is to get insight into helping the cpent understand themselves better, what they can and cannot achieve, and their strengths and shortcomings.

To Diagnose Student s Problem − Assessment data aims to diagnose the cpent s problem. We can evaluate causative factors by correctly utipzing data, and it also aids in the identification of different variables such as family background, physical health, academic success, and so on.

To Aid in Career Planning and Education − Assessment using various psychological techniques assists students in making career decisions and subject/course selection.

To Anticipate Future Performance − Counsellors utipze assessment data to evaluate an inspanidual s attitude, abipty, personapty, and so on, which have imppcations for success and adjustment and help predict the inspanidual s future performance. Furthermore, the counsellor can steer the cpent toward greater success.

To Evaluate the Outcome of Counselpng − Assessment is performed before and after counselpng, providing the counsellor with crucial information for future intervention and achieving the desired goal.

Psychological assessments are conducted to figure out an inspanidual s health and behavioral functioning. Intelpgence tests measure overall intelpgence. For example, the Wechsler Adult Intelpgence Scale (WAIS) is the most advanced measure of cognitive abipties. Wechsler Intelpgence Scale is mainly of two types, one has been designed for adults, Wechsler Adult Intelpgence Scale (WAIS), and the other has been designed for children, Wechsler Intelpgence Scale for Children (WISC). Similarly, Minnesota Multiphasic Personapty Inventory (MMPI) is a psychological test designed to assess personapty traits in patients. It is also an expert assessment of psychopathology. This scale is known to assess neurotic concerns over bodily functions.