Clinical Assessment - Research Paper Example

Clinical Assessment November 10, Introduction Psychological assessments are applied when psychologists want to understand the human personality. In our case it is important for the neighbor to consult a clinical psychologist who can use scientific skills to establish the reason behind the child’s poor performance at school as it may be as a result of a psychological disorder. For appropriate treatment to be given and to thoroughly understand the person a psychological assessment is used and using it results can be drafted that can be used to show the psychological state of the individual (Cantley, 2008).

The child could be suffering from various disorders that could be negatively affecting their studies or could be under the influence of drugs that can affect their psychological wellbeing. Assessment Tools The psychologists often use structured questionnaires that are meant to establish the individual’s characteristics and their ability to understand and conceptualize ideas. A question may be asked severally and the consistency of the answers given can be used to evaluate whether the person is able to comprehend what they are saying or not.

A personality assessment would also be important as understanding the individual’s personality is also key in establishing the cause of their psychological problems. The clinician will first establish or try to know the child’s medical history. The medical history is important in establishing whether there was a disease or disorder affecting the child in the past that could have facilitated a change or problems with their personality. Such changes can be manifested in failure to perform as expected in school or change of behavior that can as well have similar consequences to the child.

If need be the psychologist can request for the performance of specific medical check on the child to rule in or out the presence of disorders such as schizophrenia. Clinical interviews are the most widely applied psychological tools in establishing the psychological state of individuals. They involve the use of questions that are open ended to help the individual think widely and respond to them in an amicable way. The response given helps the interview to establish the person’s personality and the seriousness of his/her condition.

However, it is important to note that a single clinical interview is not enough to make a diagnosis. It is therefore important to do several to come up with a good diagnosis (Trull & Prinstein, 2012). Personality assessments can be used in this case to help in the diagnosis of the child. The MMPI-II is the most widely used personality assessment tool and its use can be important in establishing changes in his behavior. The diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is also an important tool that is used by psychologists and it can be used in our case.

It has all the psychological disorders that have been studied in the past and so with the other tools in use the clinician knows which disorder is affecting the given patient (Trull & Prinstein, 2012). Identification and diagnoses of mental and psychological disorders relies highly on these tools. ReferencesCantley, L. N. (2008). Psychological Assessment. Charlotte Psychological Assessment. Available at. Trull, T. & Prinstein, M. (2012). Clinical Psychology. PSY 334 Introduction to Clinical Psychology Series.

New York: Cengage Learning.