The first step in personality/projective assessment is a thorough clinical interview. This is used to clarify current stressors for the individual, family dynamics, significant history including trauma, as well as identify the person’s strengths and coping skills. At this initial interview, screening for anxiety and depression occurs as well as assessing for any suicidal, homicidal or self-injury risk.
What Kind of Testing Is Used?
After this initial screening, the provider may wish to obtain further information on personality characteristics and functioning to clarify clinical concerns. Depending on the client’s age and reading level, CRG has several self-report instruments that can be used. These include widely used personality inventories such as the MMPI-2 for adults and the MMPI-A for adolescents as well as those based on the Millon personality assessments.
Further assessment techniques may include projective instruments such as storytelling tasks, including the Thematic Apperception Test for adults and adolescents and/or the Roberts Apperception Test-2 for children and adolescents. On these instruments, the client responds to a series of picture prompts with a story. Clients are asked to identify thoughts and feelings and to include a beginning, middle and end to their stories. The clinician then analyzes these responses looking for the client’s ability to identify a problem, come up with a logical solution, cope with stress and uncertainty, and depict relationships with others. The clinician is looking for a client’s adaptive or maladaptive ways of perceiving a situation or his/her environment.
In addition, information obtained from the above techniques and interview may suggest that clients are exhibiting atypical thinking, poor reality orientation and the possibility of perceptual distortion in their thinking. The Rorschach Inkblot Test is then used to clarify the quality of a person’s thinking and help determine if a thought disorder such as schizophrenia or a psychotic process is present. In addition, the Rorschach also provides information about the quality of this person’s relationships, how they approach tasks, their ability to take in information about their environment and their energy and motivational level. The Rorschach is useful in that it tends to give unique information about that individual that is in addition and possibly different than previous obtained information. As in all cases of assessment, comprehensive integration and synthesis of the findings are used to clarify a diagnosis and guide treatment planning.
Where Can I Learn More Information?
Call CRG at (317) 575-9111, Option 3 to contact our Intake Coordinator.
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