Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis Flashcards
Systematic evaluation and measurement of psychological, biological, and social factors in a person presenting with a possible psychological disorder.
clinical assessment
Process of determining whether a presenting problem meets the established criteria for a specific psychological disorder.
diagnosis
Degree to which a measurement is consistent, for example, over time or among different raters.
reliability
Degree to which a technique measures what it purports to measure.
validity
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.
standardization
Relatively brief preliminary test of a client’s judgment, orientation to time and place, and emotional and mental state; typically conducted during an initial interview.
mental status exam
Measuring, observing, and systematically evaluating (rather than inferring) the client’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the actual problem situation or context.
behavioral assessment
Action by which clients observe and record their own behaviors 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.
self-monitoring
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.
projective tests
Self-report questionnaires that assess personal traits by asking respondents to identify descriptions that apply to them.
personality inventories
Score on an intelligence test estimating a person’s deviation from average test performance.
intelligence quotient (IQ)
Assessment of brain and nervous system functioning by testing an individual’s performance on behavioral tasks.
neuropsychological test
Assessment error in which pathology is reported (that is, test results are positive) when none is actually present.
false positive
Assessment error in which no pathology is noted (that is, test results are negative) when one is actually present.
false negative
Sophisticated computer-aided procedures that allow nonintrusive examination of nervous system structure and function.
neuroimaging