The Use of Computers in Psychological Diagnosis - Term Paper Example

 The Use Of Computers In Psychological Diagnosis Abstract This paper discusses the about the use of computers while conducting a psychological diagnosis in the branch type of abnormal psychology. There are different uses of computers in abnormal psychology such as intelligence testing, neurobiological diagnosis, personality testing and counseling. All these have the use of computers in their implementation and computers are an essential element for the successful attainment of the results in the psychological treatments of patients. The use of computers has both its advantages and disadvantages but the advantages are higher and computers prove to be highly productive in the field of psychology. Table of Contents Abstract 1 Introduction 3 Abnormal psychology 4 Intelligence testing 4 Neurobiological diagnosis 5 Personality testing 5 Counseling 6 Computers giving reliable and valid assessment 6 Advantages of computers 7 Disadvantages of computers 8 Conclusion 8 References 10 The use of computers in psychological diagnosis Introduction In the modern age of advance science and technology, the use of computers has become an essential requirement in the industry of medicine and health care. The use of computers allows all work processes to be conducted effectively and efficiently. The use of computers by the psychologists is they consider the computers as instruments that helps them in the diagnosis of the patients and allows them to study condition of the humans as well. Studying the human mind and the different human behavior is extremely critical and it is one of the most unpredictable and dynamic thing. Psychology can be defined as the study of the human mind and also the study of human behavior as a result of the impacts on the human mind (Barlow and Mark, 2004) . The impact of human mind also affects the decisions of the humans and their overall processes of functioning. The human brain is considered as a neurological computer for the human body by the psychologists (Hansell and Damour, 2005). It can be deduced that a strong relationship is present between computers and psychology. Computers tend to work in strong correlation in the field of psychology because it is used in all types of psychological testing and treatment procedures. Psychology has a lot of dimensions and there are different types of psychology present. This paper discusses the use of computers in the abnormal psychology. Abnormal psychology The term abnormal psychology can be defined as a branch or type of psychology that studies the behavior patterns of humans that are unusual, the unusual thoughts and emotions that humans possess that may or may not be causing them to be having a mental disorder. The abnormal psychology tends to consist of various reasons for different types of behaviors. The different behaviors observed in the individuals are due to the situations they have undergone and therefore need to undergo a psychological treatment. The medical professionals that come under this category are the psychotherapists, the counselor, and the clinical psychologists that cater towards the unusual and abnormal psychology behavior of the individual (Barlow and Mark, 2004). Intelligence testing The intelligence testing of an individual tends to focus upon the level of the functionality of the intellectual aspects of the individual and this is conducted by carrying out various tests for assessing the intelligence level of the individual. There are computerized tests given to the individuals for their intelligence testing and computerized results are obtained for the tests so that an immediate analysis can be given about the intelligence level of the person (Fernald, 2008). All individuals are at different levels of intelligence and according to their level the intelligence tests are conducted for them on computers. Neurobiological diagnosis Schizophrenia is one of the main diseases that are faced by humans and a neurobiological diagnosis is usually conducted for the treatment of such disease. The neurobiological diagnosis in the abnormal psychology context refers to the human mind being in a state of depression and may be developing the will to commit suicide. Mood disorders are also analyzed through conducting a neurobiological diagnosis. The positive symptoms should be properly treated of the depression state, the substance that is causing abuse should be reduced and aspects that instill hope in the individual should be used for the purpose of treatment of the individual suffering from this case (Hansell and Damour, 2005). There has been computer software that has been developed for the detection and classification of neurological diseases. The X-rays required of the patients to understand more about the disease also involves using computer technology. The patient’s images are captured for the classification of the state in which the disease is prevailing. The images can be captured and processed through the different types of computer technology being applied such as radiography and scanning (Hansell and Damour, 2005). Personality testing Personality testing psychology refers to the studying of the personality of the individual through tests. The personality testing can be conducted through computers. The MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) has been developed as a psychological test so that the psychopathological aspects can be measured. Personality tests are usually of two types: the first one being projective tests and the second one being objective tests. With this and many other types of personality tests involved the use of computers so that all result can be gained immediately with their proper classifications (Carver and Scheier, 2004). Counseling Psychological counseling is taking place via computers in today’s world and it is being deemed as a positive tool for counseling individuals that are both young and old. Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) is a type of computer psychological counseling that allows individuals to scan through the material on the computer and also work themselves through the interactive assessments. The learning process of the individual tends to improve through the computer aided psychological counseling (Carver and Scheier, 2004). Computers giving reliable and valid assessment The use of computers is the assessment procedures of psychology tend to be reliable and have valid assessments to a large extent as everything has been tested before it has been finally implemented for the individuals. Computer technology has advanced to a very large extent and many aspects in the medical informatics as well as in the field of psychology cannot progress further without the use of computers. Computer use is a necessity in the psychological field and with advancement in science it has proves to give reliable and valid results (Lee, 2001). It has been analyzed by researchers that computer can analyze results in a systematic way and at a sophisticated level as well. There are chances of less error to be made as a human mind may forget certain aspects of analysis but if computers have the data stored in them, there are less chances of having error in the psychological tests that are conducted for individuals (Carver and Scheier, 2004). Advantages of computers The different advantages present for the use of computers in the field of abnormal psychology are as follows (Barlow and Mark, 2004): The advantages of computers in the field of abnormal psychology are that the computers act as tools for the in depth studying of the minds and behaviors of the humans. Computers are ultimately is necessary for psychological research for the expansion of practices in psychology. EEG (Electroencephalography) and fMRI - functional magnetic resonance imaging are brain imaging techniques and they cannot work without the use of computers and therefore computers are of vital use in the field of psychology. The advantages in psychology education are that educational is becoming extremely easy and fun while using instructional technology is being used and the impact is through digital media. Majority of the times computers are used in coordination with the specialty software like SPSS and SAS for the analysis of data sets that are large and may be difficult to conduct it manually. The research studies that are conducted in psychology of large populations need to be maintained for longer time durations and therefore the computer technology is needed to store the data (Lee, 2001). Disadvantages of computers The different disadvantages present for the use of computers in the field of abnormal psychology are as follows (Barlow and Mark, 2004): The disadvantages of computers in the field of psychology is that computers are machines and therefore at times they may tend to get damaged due to excessive or misuse of the computers and this therefore may cause a lot of valuable and historical data of the psychological patients to be lost. Data corruption may also be a likely outcome as large population data are stored in the computers for longer periods of time. Privacy issues are also an important issue once data has been stored on the computer. For future use, the data stored in the computer needs to be protected by implementing proper security measures (Lee, 2001). The cost of implementing computers in the psychological lab is very high, along with the computers there are different tools required for the analysis on the computers, different types of software and the maintenance of the security level in the labs can be quite difficult (Lee, 2001). Conclusion The discussion above depicts that computers are highly vital and an essential element in the field of psychology. Abnormal psychology deals with the unusual behaviors of the individuals such as them having fear or having mood disorders like depression and other such factors. Computers play an important role in the treatment of patients of psychological disorder and also it helps towards the maintenance and evaluation of historical records for longer time periods. Computers can store a large amount of data and results that have been obtained for different types of patients and this makes it easy to refer back to any particular case when in time of need. The assessment results obtained can be categorized as valid and reliable as the age of science has advanced drastically and made things to be conducted systematically, efficiently, and effectively. References Barlow, David H. and Mark Durand, Vincent (2004). Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach. Thomson Wadsworth. Carver, C., & Scheier, M. (2004). Perspectives on Personality (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Fernald, LD (2008). Psychology: Six perspectives (pp. 12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Hansell, James and Damour, Lisa (2005). Abnormal Psychology. Von Hoffman Press. Lee, M.G. (2001). Profiling Students’ Adaptation Styles in Web-Based Learning. Computers and Education, 36(2): 121-132. Read More