ch 13: Clinical assessment Flashcards
What is clinical assessment?
- a continuous process (not a single event)
- defined as a multifaceted process wherby counselors gather information from, and about, a client to make informed decisions related to diagnosis, treatment planning, and documenting therapeutic efficacy
What is the primary purpose of clinical assessment?
to help counselors assess for the potential presence of a mental disorder
a mental disorder is generally defined as a condition in which what 3 elements are present:
- clinically significant disturbance in cognition, emotion regulation, behavior tat results in a dysfunction
- significant distress or disability in social, job, other activities
- disorder is not a result of social deviance or conflicts with society
What two decision-making models are used in clinical assessment?
- clinical judgement model
2. statistical decision-making model
what is the clinical judgement model?
counselor integrates information gathered through observation and subjective and objective data to reach conclusion on diagnosis
what are three drawbacks of clinical judgement model?
- viewed are largely individual in nature
- Subjective, poor reliability
- counselor bias is a known deficit of the model
What is the statistical decision-making model?
counselor uses analytic techniques (statistical inference, probability, sampling) to move from hypothesis to conclusion
what are two strengths of statistical decision-making model?
- uses instruments (tests) to objectively assess
2. diagnoses made are more reliable and valid
what is the primary classification system counselors use
DSM 5 - diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
what recent changes were made to this version of the DSM
- now uses arabic, not roman numerals, for the editions - allows for future updates (5.1,…) and
- reorganized chapters on relatedness of disorders to one another.
- now organized based on developmental and lifespan considerations (childhood to adult)
- more dimensional approach - overlap among disorders
- removed the “not otherwise specified” diagnosis. now uses “other specified” and “unspecified”
what are four diagnostic interviewing strategies?
- intake interview
- clinical interviews
- mental status examination
- suicide assessment
What is an intake interview?
an assessment technique that provides counselors with information about client’s past functioning and how it relates to their current situation and the problems they are facing
what 8 core areas are addressed in intake interview?
- demographic information
- referral reasons
- current situations
- previous counseling experience
- birth and developmental history
- family history
- medical history
- education and/or vocational background
what is a clinical interview?
interview used to assess and provide treatment for the symptoms the client is experiencing
what are three types of clinical interviews?
- structured
- semi-structured
- unstructured