Effects of psychological analysis on the population - Coursework Example

Effects of psychological analysis on the populationWhen an individual’s tests are misused, it leads to wrong and incorrect diagnosis of the patient. When a psychologically disturbed patient is given an incorrect diagnosis, it means they will receive wrong treatment plan and hence the patient will not get better (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997). The psychological illness will still be present and may even grow more severe making the patient at risk of harming themselves and even the population at large.

An example is a patient admitted to a hospital who displays symptoms of schizophrenia but the tests are misused and the results indicate another psychological disorder. This will lead to the patient’s symptoms and condition worsening and the patient may turn violent towards people near him or her harming them or even themselves. The other effect of misuse of tests is that it may cause an innocent individual to go to jail or a criminal to be released when it comes to tests in forensic psychology.

When a criminal is charged and especially on murder charges, a psychologist is required to perform a series of test on the individual to determine their mental state. If the tests are misused at this point and the psychologists declares the alleged criminal to be of unstable mind, then the criminal is released and only required to serve a few minds of mental rehabilitation and then released to the public. If the individual’s mental state was stable and he had indeed performed the murder then the larger population is at risk of a murderer being on the loose and who is likely to perform another murder.

ReferencesAnastasi, A., & Urbina, S. (1997). Psychological testing (7th Ed).Upper Saddle River: NJ. Prentice Hall.