Testing for psychological disorders, also known as mental health assessment test services, typically involves a combination of psychological assessments, interviews, and observation. There are many reasons why people come to us looking for testing for mental health challenges, including treatment planning with a therapist, accommodations for work or school, or general insight and self-help strategies. The results we give go well beyond just providing a diagnosis and include suggestions to overcome barriers and build on personal strengths. A test for psychological disorders can provide valuable new insights.
We provide this service for a wide variety of reasons, and we’d be happy to talk to you anytime about how they could benefit you. First, here is an overview that may help.
Why Get Testing for Psychological Disorders
There are several reasons why someone might seek testing for mental health disorders:
- Symptoms and Concerns: Experiencing persistent or distressing symptoms such as sadness, anxiety, mood swings, intrusive thoughts, or difficulty concentrating can prompt people to seek testing for mental health disorders to understand their experiences better and receive appropriate support.
- Functional Impairment: Mental health disorders can significantly impact daily functioning, including work, school, relationships, and self-care. Evaluations can help identify the underlying issues contributing to these impairments and guide treatment planning.
- Family History: A family history of mental health disorders can increase the likelihood of developing similar conditions. Evaluations can help individuals understand their risk factors and manage their mental health proactively.
- Concerns Raised by Others: Sometimes, friends, family members, or healthcare providers may express concerns about an individual’s mental health. Testing for psychological disorders can provide clarity and guidance for addressing these concerns effectively.
- Personal Growth and Self-Understanding: Seeking testing for mental health disorders is about addressing problems and gaining self-awareness and understanding. Testing can provide insights into one’s personality, strengths, challenges, and areas for personal growth.
- Legal or Occupational Requirements: In some cases, testing for mental health disorders may be required for legal purposes (e.g., disability claims, legal proceedings) or occupational requirements (e.g., fitness for duty evaluations, military clearance evaluations, court-ordered psychological evaluations for custody, and pre-employment screenings).
- Prevention and Early Intervention: Early detection of mental health disorders can lead to timely interventions that may prevent the worsening of symptoms and improve long-term outcomes. Evaluations can help identify issues early and facilitate early intervention strategies.
- Curiosity and Personal Development: Some individuals may seek our services out of curiosity or desire for personal development. Exploring one’s mental health through empirical assessment can be valuable in self-discovery and self-improvement.
Overall, seeking testing for mental health disorders is a proactive step toward understanding oneself better, addressing challenges, and promoting overall well-being. A mental health assessment test can have wide-ranging benefits.
Testing for Psychological Disorders Methods
We take the following steps when testing for mental health disorders:
Clinical Interviews
These are structured conversations between an experienced clinician and you. They help gather information about your symptoms, personal history, family history, and other relevant factors. These interviews provide a starting point to help us choose the best tests and methods when putting together your unique battery.
Psychological Tests for Mental Health Disorders
Various psychological measures assess different aspects of functioning. In the next section, we will go over this in more detail, but you should be prepared to take scientifically proven, well-established measures that can help dig deeper than interviews and self-reports. No one mental health assessment test will answer all your questions, so we piece together a battery after we get to know you and fully understand what you hope to accomplish.
Behavioral Mental Health Assessment Tests
Behavioral assessments are often part of psychological disorder testing. These involve direct observation of behavior in various settings to assess symptoms and functioning. This may include structured observations, behavior checklists, or ecological momentary assessments (EMA), where you report their behaviors and experiences in real-time. In other words, as part of a mental health assessment test battery, we may have you self-observe, we will observe you, and we might ask you hypotheticals about what you would do in certain situations.
Neuropsychological Testing for Psychological Disorders
These more focused assessments assess cognitive function, behavior, and emotional functioning as they relate to brain structure and function. They are often used in cases of suspected neurological conditions or executive functioning issues (like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). We don’t always do neuropsychological assessments but if your issues may involve your cognitive skills and functioning, a neuropsychological mental health assessment test may augment and add credence to your results.
Self-Report Testing for Mental Health Disorders
You may be asked to complete questionnaires or surveys to provide information about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. These can be useful for assessing symptoms of specific disorders or general psychological well-being. They can also be repeated after certain time intervals to see how you progress after making changes, implementing strategies, and pursuing treatment.
Mental Health Assessment Test Batteries
We choose among many specific tests for mental health disorders, depending on the questions you want answered and what we find out in the initial 
steps. Here are some possibilities
Personality Testing for Psychological Disorders
We often need to understand aspects of your personality, so we might choose among the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), or the Personality Assessment Inventory, which assesses personality traits and tendencies.
A mental health assessment test involving personality is often the first one we administer and can guide the rest of your battery.
Intelligence Testing for Psychological Disorders
Sometimes, we want to learn more about your cognitive skills and tendencies, so we might give IQ tests such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) or the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, which measure cognitive abilities. We may only give certain subtests or the entire measure depending on what we try to discern.
THough not specifically a test for psychological disorders, Intelligence testing often has the added benefit of elucidating the cognitive strengths that can be used to overcome mental health barriers.
Projective Testing for Mental Health Disorders
Such as the Rorschach Inkblot or Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), are designed to reveal underlying thoughts, feelings, and conflicts by analyzing responses to ambiguous stimuli. These can be a part of testing for psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, and social challenges.
A projective mental health assessment test provides information from your subconscious that you may not be completely aware of, making it a perfect test for psychological disorders.
It’s important to note that no single test for psychological disorders can provide a definitive diagnosis. Instead, we typically use these assessment methods and their clinical judgment and expertise to arrive at a diagnosis and develop appropriate suggestions. Additionally, cultural factors, individual differences, and the context in which symptoms occur are all considered during the assessment process.
Testing for Psychological Disorders Example One
Here’s an example of how testing for psychological disorders might unfold.
Testing for Mental Health Initial Steps
Alice is a 32-year-old woman who has been feeling persistently sad, fatigued, and unmotivated for the past two months. We ask her about her symptoms, duration, and impact on her daily life. We also inquire about her medical history, family history of mental illness, substance use, and any significant life events.
The process continues with questionnaires and self-report inventories, which will guide subsequent steps in putting together her mental health assessment test battery, as follows
- Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II):
- Purpose: A test for psychological disorders to measure the severity of Alice’s depressive symptoms.
- Outcome: Alice scores 28, indicating moderate to severe depression.
- Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9):
- Purpose: A brief test for psychological disorders to assess the presence and severity of depression.
- Outcome: Alice’s score of 18 suggests moderately severe depression.
Standardized Psychological Testing
We then pull together a battery of measures to provide even more detail and insight. This includes
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV):
- Purpose: A test for psychological disorders to rule out cognitive impairments that might contribute to her depressive symptoms.
- Outcome: Alice’s scores are within the average range, indicating no significant cognitive deficits. However, we notice some signs of undiagnosed ADHD.
- Personality Assessment Inquiry (PAI):
- Purpose: A test for psychological disorders that determines what personality traits may leave her prone to sad moods.
- Outcome: Alice is extremely empathic and compassionate and often deeply feels the difficulties others are facing.
- Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS):
- Purpose: A test for psychological disorders used to determine whether ADHD may be contributing to her symptoms.
- Outcome: Alice has an undiagnosed attention deficit that she has likely fought through her entire life.
Mental Health Evaluation Test Collateral Information
- Context: With Alice’s permission, the psychologist contacts her husband, who confirms that Jane has withdrawn from social activities, is sleeping excessively, and has lost interest in things she used to enjoy.
- Purpose: To corroborate Alice’s self-reported symptoms with observations from someone close to her.
Feedback and Treatment Planning
We discussed the diagnosis with Alice, explaining that she has Major Depressive Disorder and talk about the specific factors that may be causing it, such as years of fighting through an undiagnosed attention deficit and her tendency to be so deeply compassionate that she feels for others in distress. We talk about treatment and self-help options, including cognitive-behavioral and humanistic therapies.
This example illustrates how various assessment tools and methods work together to comprehensively understand an individual’s mental health and guide appropriate treatment and self-help planning.
Test for Psychological Disorders in an Adolescent, Case Example
Alex is a 15-year-old High School Student referred by his school counselor due to declining grades, frequent emotional outbursts, and difficulty concentrating in class. His parents note that he has been increasingly irritable and withdrawn for six months. His parents recently divorced, and Alex’s behavior has worsened since. He has had no developmental delays or past medical issues; ADHD was ruled out at age 8.
Test for Psychological Disorders Process
- Clinical Interview
- Adolescent Interview: Alex reports feeling “overwhelmed” and states he often has racing thoughts, feels sad for days at a time, and has difficulty sleeping. He admits to arguing with teachers and losing interest in soccer, which he used to enjoy.
- Parent Interview: Parents describe Alex as increasingly irritable, isolating himself, and struggling with focus. There is family history of depression on the mother’s side.
- Behavioral Observations
- During testing, Alex appears anxious and restless, needing breaks frequently. He sometimes avoids eye contact.
- Standardized Assessments
- Cognitive Testing (WISC-V): Alex scores in the high average range but shows weaknesses in working memory and processing speed.
- Adolescent Apperception Test: Alex feels helpless and hopeless under the surface. He’s unable to motivate himself to achieve, and he feels lost and left out socially. The Personality Assessment Inventory backs these findings and adds that he is an unusually emotionally sensitive teen, which is one reason everything is affecting him so deeply.
- Behavioral Assessment (BASC-3): Parent and teacher reports indicate clinically significant levels of depression and anxiety symptoms.
- Self-Report (Beck Depression Inventory): Alex’s responses indicate moderate to severe symptoms of depression.
- Rule Out ADHD: Conners-3 results suggest some inattention, but not enough for an ADHD diagnosis.
Testing for Psychological Disorders Findings
Based on the clinical interviews, behavioral observations, and standardized testing, Alex meets the criteria for:
- An Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood related to parental divorce. He is having trouble expressing his feelings openly about their split, which is increasing his levels of anxiety and stress. He’s also having trouble setting goals for himself and pursuing achievement due to the distraction of the situation and what he perceives as uncertainty about his future.
Recommendations
- Therapeutic Support:
- Individual therapy (CBT) to address depressive thoughts and coping skills. A humanistic underlying approach will help him feel supported, empowered, and more comfortable expressing his feelings.
- Family therapy to address the impact of parental divorce, using a narrative approach so the family can retell their story and paint a more upbeat picture of what life will be like after the split.
- Academic Accommodations:
- Extra time for assignments and tests.
- Preferential seating to reduce distractions.
- Lifestyle Changes:
- Encourage sleep hygiene, regular physical activity, and return to soccer or other activities Alex enjoys.
- Encourage the parents to show they can still get along, are motivated to co-parent, and make sure Alex is fully taken care of.
This example highlights how testing for psychological disorders integrates multiple data points to arrive at a diagnosis and personalized adolescent recommendations.
Conclusions and Our Work
We’d be happy to discuss the reasons you are considering testing for mental health disorders so we can develop a plan that might work well. We can start with a simple mental health checkup to see whether further testing is indicated. We will want to understand what you hope to get out of our work together, the answers you are looking for, and the barriers you are facing so that we can ensure that the evaluation is as helpful as possible. We will choose a mental health assessment test battery specifically designed for you.
Please feel free to contact us or schedule a consultation regarding our testing for psychological disorders service.
