Personality Assessment in Psychology - Report Example

syсhоlоgiсаl Rероrt Using РAI Name: Institution: Date: Рsyсhоlоgiсаl Rероrt Using РAI Introduction When one speaks about personality assessment in psychology, these activities include the diagnosis of mental illness, prediction of behavior, measurement of mentally unconscious process, and the quantification of interpersonal styles and the tendencies. Even though all of these descriptions are true for different clinicians working with varying client groups, this information may not accurately capture the full range of modern personality assessment. Personality assessment provides an expert consultation to patients seeking help whenever referred by therapists. On the other side pain is a very common sensory disturbance presented by patients who have a conversion disorder. Abstract Traditionally, conversion disorder suggests a physical disturbance. However, the symptoms are considered as an expression of the underlying psychological conflict. A conversion disorder is not diagnosed typically when the conversion symptoms limited to pain. Through pain patient profile then it is possible to diagnose such disorders which cause pain. This research paper describes a psychological report addressing the possible adjustment issues, anxiety, and other vulnerabilities that may have resulted from the accident at the workplace. The report will also give the test findings, summary and recommendations on the conclusions of data obtained from the PAI and P3 files. This paper investigated the utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) for diagnosing and discerning between Major Depressive Disorder (MDD with a sample client. The PAI Structural Summary contains Diagnostic Consider Clusters (DCC) that was designed to spot PAI subscales that are characteristically elevated or suppressed when a meticulous disorder is at hand. Case background The client goes by the name Mr. Tom Courtney, is a civil engineer born in the late nineteen eighty. The 23-year civil engineer is married and has a three years and one a half-year-old children. He works for Star Engineering as a civil construction engineer. While at his workplace accident happened in 3rd May, 2012 during a visit to a steel fabricating warehouse. At approximately 10:35am, Tom was struck on the shoulder by a shield beam that appeared to have fallen from the shelving that was above. Immediately, Tom fell on his back but did not lose consciousness other than the severe pain in the shoulder and the lower back. An ambulance was called immediately and took him to PA hospital and arrived at 10:50am. A doctor at the hospital referred him to the local physiotherapist for physical therapy where he underwent four sessions before going back to work. He was later given a sick leave for two weeks for recovery from the injuries. Reasons for referral Mr. Tom Courtney had suffered tendon tears on his shoulder and localized bruising, and this prompted for referral to the physiotherapist who could handle the rehabilitation process through physical therapy. Current complaints The main concern for Mr. Tom is back pain. It is imminent by the fact that he cannot sit still for long periods. He experiences pain while playing with the children. His back and the shoulder are constantly hurting and cause pain. The pain is particularly bad after driving to and from work that has made him tired and cranky. The pain is so high that he is usually avoiding the regular physical activities that he once fondly waited for. He is also complaining of reduced libido something that has never happened in his marriage. Behavioral observations Toms behavior has also changed considerably especially at work. He finds it difficult to concentrate feels tense and has a lot of negative thoughts about his work abilities. He is also out of hid normal character as he has become frustrated with his young children. He complains that the kids are driving him crazy when they run around and make noise. He once loved coming home just to meet with the kids which indicate a change in behavior. During the clinical interviews, he arrived for the appointment in time with the wife. He was also presentable in the manner he was dressed graced by the fact that he spoke well and friendly. He could fondly remember what transpired during the accident and did not seem anxious to the test. He also appeared to have a better effort in trying to answer the questions truthfully. He also at this point complained of back pain. Hypothesis It was hypothesized that the outcome of this study would substantiate the soundness of the use PAI data and Pain profiles for Majority Depressive Disorder. It would then be used for psychotherapy of people affected with accidents that come about while at a place of work. Analysis of the PAI and P3 data Psychological assessment with multiscale inventories is mainly reliant on the truthfulness and the correctness of the personnel who are to be evaluated. The personal assessment inventory can be used in detecting schizophrenia, major depression, and widespread anxiety disorder. The PAI data can also be used to identify the poignant and the behavioral profiles of the personality to whom the assessment is being conducted. The PAI statistics was used to work out mean PAI profiles for the whole sample. Next, the mean clinical elevation (MCE) was computed for each participant using the technique described by Morey and Hopwood (2007) which entails summing the T scores of the 11 clinical scales and then dividing the sum by 11. By the analysis of the clinical values of the data given, the MCE value comes to approximately forty-seven. The MCE for each participant was used to calculate a mean MCE for the entire sample. For the P3 data, outcomes of the study do not offer convincing support for the tripartite structure of the P3. On the other hand, the resultant constellations of objects did not replicate the predictable distinctions among depression, anxiety, and somatization. Mean value calculations The mean MCE for the entire sample was 47.3T (SD=5.67; range 32.91–44.82; N= 55) and the mean MCE for the MDD group was 45.60T (SD=5.12; range 46.45–74.82; n= 135). Finally, the mean MCE for the GAD group was 55.54T (SD=6.06; range 42.25–78.91;n= 79). Test findings and discussions Diagnostic Consideration Cluster for MDD It was hypothesized that the DCC for MDD would be revealed to be suitable when used for the client. In concurrence to this anticipation, the outcome indicated that the client by use of MDD test confirmed all of the scale elevations and suppressions. I decided to scrutinize each one of the subscales independently. The outcome showed that three subscales–DEP-A, DEP-C, MAN-G–had hit rates more than seventy-five percent which insinuates that it is logically convincing for the intention of detecting the incidence of MDD in the client. The remaining four subscales had hit rates between 40 % and 60%. It could practically be argued that these subscales are not valid to be used in detecting the occurrence of MDD. Even though the lowly individual subscale hit rate was still larger than one-third, the reality that other than half of the subscales had hit low hit rates cannot be assumed. Mr. Tom Courtney is suffering from Major Depressive Disorder. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a habitually occurring psychological disorder that causes changeable levels of clinically significant distress. The major part harmful result of MDD is suicide, which is anticipated to come about in as many as 15% of individuals who have the relentless form of the disorder. Occurrence of one or more Major Depressive Episodes, defined as five or more of the subsequent symptoms have been at hand during the similar two-week episode and correspond to an alteration from previous performance; at least one of the symptoms is either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure. The client at hand has lost concentration about the job that he was working for before the accident. There is a depression mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated by either above report (e.g., feels gloomy or empty) or scrutiny made by others (e.g., appears weepy). Noticeably, there will be diminished concentration or enjoyment in all, or almost all, behavior the majority of the day, nearly every day (as shown by either subjective account or observation made by others. Mr. Tom once used to like playing with the two kids but now the situation is different. He once loved coming home just to meet with the children which indicate a change in behavior. These were the events in life that usually made him happy but as now it causes pain to him, and he hardly admires them. He was usually fond of playing rugby with the kids. In children, it is important to consider failure to make expected weight gains. There may be insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day psychomotor agitation or retardation almost each day (visible to others, not simply skewed feelings of restlessness or being slowed down) tiredness or loss of energy. Another symptom is nearly every day thoughts of insignificance or unnecessary or inappropriate guilt nearly every day (not simply guiltiness or guilt about being diminished capability to think or concentrate on, or being indecisive, almost every day (either by subjective account or as observed by others). Mr. Tom has developed a reduction in the capability to perform at his position in the company. While at work he fails to concentrate and feels negative about his work abilities. He is too stressed and anxious during the day. Another symptom may be the recurrent feelings of demise (not just fright of dying), repeated suicidal ideation devoid of a precise plan, or a suicide endeavor or a specific plan for committing suicide. The symptoms root clinically significant distress or injury in social, work-related, or other major areas of performance. Summary and recommendations Pain insight is extensively known as being multifactorial, and most contemporary conceptualizations of pain know-how could be described as biopsychosocial. Psychological factors that manipulate pain occurrence are abundant and can comprise mood, nervousness, consideration processes, individual coping mechanisms, social support, and individuality factors. From the biopsychosocial understanding of hurt, a wide variety of procedures of pain discernment and pain knowledge have been developed. One such method is the Pain Patient Profile questionnaire (P3; Tollison &Langley, 1995). The P3 was planned exclusively for use with pain patients and presents separate arithmetical indices of depression, nervousness, and somatization (bodily symptoms, somatic performance, and the enormity of worry about the ache). The P3 also is exceptional in that holds a strength scale that was planned to perceive arbitrary responding, reading understanding problems, and intensification of symptoms (Tollison & Langley, 1995). The P3 was normed on both pain patients and a population model and the test authors accounted for acceptable item scale correlations, an elevated intensity of test-retest dependability, and sufficient scale score consistency (Tollison & Langley, 1995). The test authors also examined fairly high intercorrelations linking the three clinical scales: depression anxiety and somatization. The PAI is an omnibus objective method measuring of psychological disorders, personality functioning, and related features. It is the third most occasionally used measure of that type in the custody evaluation, but there are no published data accurate for such use. Regarding tests commonly employed in the custody evaluation, there are published custody evaluation data that include gender comparisons only for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2).The PAI has eleven scales of clinical functioning and two of interpersonal approach applicable to protection assessment. In addition, there are four different validity scales and five that relate to handling the considerations. Moreover, Positive Impression Management (PIM) validity scale, the key measure of defensiveness, is particularly vital since evaluators need to reflect on the amount to which patients are struggling to present themselves in the most excellent way, and such clients have been established to manifest moderately elevated levels on the PIM validity scales. There is need to understand the client before the best method of diagnosis is done. It will guarantee a smooth flow in the process of diagnosing the presence of any disorders. Most of these disorders are mental which demands a better understanding of the problem before finding the best way to talk. Psychological assessment is an important tool to understanding the mental disorders. There is a need for advanced methods that guarantee the best results. References Handler, L., & Hilsenroth, M. J. (1998). Teaching and learning personality assessment. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. McGuire, B., Hogan, M., & Morrison, T. (2013). Dimensionality and reliability assessment of the Pain Patient Profile questionnaire. (McGuire, BE: 22-26. Hersen, M. (2004). Comprehensive handbook of psychological assessment. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. Janda, L. H. (1996). The psychologist's book of self-tests: 25 love, sex, intelligence, career, and personality tests developed by professionals to reveal the real you. New York: Berkeley Pub. Group. Hersen, M. (2004). Comprehensive handbook of psychological assessment. Hoboken, N.J: J. Wiley. Weiss, P. A. (2010). Personality assessment in police psychology: A 21st century perspective. Springfield, Ill: Charles C. Thomas Publishers. Butcher, J. N. (2002). Clinical personality assessment: Practical approaches. New York: Oxford University Press. Carducci, B. J. (2006). The psychology of personality. Oxford: Blackwell. Weiner, I. B. (2003). Handbook of psychology: 10. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Brannon, L., & Feist, J. (2010). Health psychology: An introduction to behavior and health. Australia: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Alexander, J. (2012). The hidden psychology of pain: The use of understanding to heal chronic pain. Bloomington, IN: Balboa Press. Hadjistavropoulos, T., & Craig, K. D. (2004). Pain: Psychological Perspectives. Hoboken: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Turk, D. C., & Gatchel, R. J. (2002). Psychological approaches to pain management: A practitioner's handbook. New York: The Guilford Press. Carll, E. K. (2007). Trauma psychology: Issues in violence, disaster, health and illness. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Fillingim, R. B. (2005). A concise encyclopedia of pain psychology. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Medical. Read More