chapter 3 Flashcards
What is a clinical assessment?
Systematic evaluation and measurement of psychological, biological, and social factors in an individual presenting with a possible psychological disorder
Validity
Degree to which a technique actually measures what it purports to measure.
Standardization
Process of establishing specific norms and requirements for a measurement technique to ensure it is used consistently across measurement occasions. This includes instructions for administering the measure, evaluating its findings, and comparing these to data for large numbers of people.
mental status exam
Relatively coarse preliminary test of a client’s judgment, orientation to time and place, and emotional and mental state; typically conducted during an initial interview.
Dr. Swan listened carefully to Joyce’s speech pattern, noting its speed, content, and continuity. She noticed no looseness of association but did hear indications of delusional thoughts and visual hallucinations.
thought processes
Anwar arrived at the clinic accompanied by police, who had found him dressed only in shorts although the temperature was 5 degree celecuis . He was reported to the police by someone who saw him walking very slowly down the street making strange faces and talking to himself.
appearance and behaviour
When Lisa was brought to Dr. Miller’s office, he asked if she knew the date and time, her identity, and where she was.
sensorium
Dr. Jones viewed Tarik’s laughter after discussing his near-fatal incident as inappropriate and noted that Tarik appeared to be elated.
mood and affect
Mark’s vocabulary and memory seemed adequate, leading Dr. Epstein to estimate that Mark was of average intelligence
intellectual functioning
projective tests
Psychoanalytically based measures that present ambiguous stimuli to clients on the assumption that their responses will reveal their unconscious conflicts. Such tests are inferential and lack high reliability and validity
self-monitoring
Action by which clients observe and record their own behaviours as either an assessment of a problem and its change or a treatment procedure that makes them more aware of their responses. Also called self-observation.
personality inventories
Self-report questionnaires that assess personal traits by asking respondents to identify descriptions that apply to them.
Neuropsychological testing
Assessment of brain and nervous system functioning by testing an individual’s performance on behavioural tasks.
false positives
Assessment error in which pathology is reported (i.e., test results are positive) when none is actually present.
false negatives
Assessment error in which no pathology is noted (i.e., test results are negative) when it is actually present
neuroimaging
Sophisticated computer-aided procedures that allow nonintrusive examination of nervous system structure and function.
psychophysiological assessment
Measurement of changes in the nervous system reflecting psychological or emotional events, such as anxiety, stress, and sexual arousal.
classification
Assignment of objects or people to categories based on shared characteristics.
electroencephalogram (EEG)
Measure of electrical activity patterns in the brain taken through electrodes placed on the scalp.
taxonomy
System of naming and classification (e.g., of specimens) in science.
nomenclature
In a naming system or nosology, the actual labels or names that are applied. In psychopathology these include, for example, mood disorders and eating disorders.
nosology
Classification and naming system for medical and psychological phenomena.
classical categorical approach
Classification method founded on the assumption of clear-cut differences among disorders, each with a different known cause.
dimensional approach
Method of categorizing characteristics on a continuum rather than on a binary, either-or, or all-ornone basis.
prototypical approach
System for categorizing disorders using both essential, defining characteristics and a range of variation on other characteristics.
The classical categorical approach to classification assumes there is only one set of causative factors per disorder with no overlap between disorders, and the prototypical approach uses essential, defining features, as well as a range of other characteristics.
true
As in earlier versions, the DSM-IV and DSM-5-TR retain a distinction between organically and psychologically based disorders.
false
The DSM-IV and DSM-5-TR eradicated the problem of comorbidity, the identification of two or more disorders in an individual at one time, which was previously caused by imprecise categories.
false
If two or more clinicians agree on a patient’s classification, the assessments are said to be valid.
F
A danger in psychological classification is that a diagnostic label might be used to characterize personally the total individual.
true
What are the five categories of the mental status exam?
- Appearance and behavior:
Over behavior
Attire
Appearance, posture, expressions - Thought processes:
Rate of speech
Continuity of speech
Content of speech - Mood and affect:
Predominant feeling state of the individual
Feeing state accompanying what individual says - Intellectual functioning:
Type of vocabulary
Use of abstractions and metaphors - Sensorium:
Awareness of surroundings in terms of person (self and clinician), time, and place - “Oriented three times”
