Health and Psychology

Most people have never heard of a medical or health psychologist.  Conceptualized back in the 1960's and 1970's, medical psychologists were initially thought to be physician extenders, very similar to Physician Assistants now.  We were taught basic biology and human systems work as well as extensive interviewing skills and history taking.  In the 1970's the field of medical psychology split into health psychology and medical psychology.
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I will frequently ask new patients to get copies of their laboratory results and a copy of the note from their complete physical. I’m often met with the response that “The doctor said everything was fine.” Or “The doctor said everything was normal.”

In the last several cases in the past year where I have requested laboratory studies and a complete physical note, and have been told “everything was normal” what’s been present ...

The first thing I ask someone on the phone when they call to make an appointment is what the issue is that they are calling about. We have three divisions in the company so that question serves to filter and triage the call.

Is this a medical condition or medical issue contributing to a psychological condition?

These are the kinds of cases I take personally. So I want to know if this is what’s going on with the person so I can take the case and have...

I see a number of people that have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. When I ask how the diagnosis was made I hear about questionnaires. Questionnaires are a nice confirming meaure, when other, more objective measures have been done. But as a primary measure for the purpose of providing treatment planning, they aren't a great way to assess attentional difficulties.

Here's how to make the assessment of attentional difficulties in children or adults...

I get asked about accommodations testing fairly routinely.  Many people call in with questions about how much I charge for specific tests.  Accommodations testing isn't about the tests.  Accommodations testing is the data used for a psychological report that will ultimately be reviewed by an administrative law judge or an attorney involved in applications of the American's with Disabilities Act to ensure that the person seeking accommodations under the Act is not being afforded...

I work out in the Inland Empire a couple days a week doing social security disability evaluations.  At least once a week I see some child that should have received a diagnosis of autistic disorder but didn't.  This level of misdiagnosis isn't present in Los Angeles county. In Los Angeles it's more common for a diagnosis of autistic disorder to be made when there is minimal evidence to support it.  So why is this happening? Pediatricians or family practice physicians are seeing ...

I've heard from several people in the past month, referring to their adolescent children in terms I think of as reserved for the seriously mentally ill or criminally insane.  When I attempt to clarify the nature of the delusional psychosis, criminal conduct, or psychotic mood disorder it seems to be non-existent.  What is being described by these parents, step-parents and legal guardians of teens are temper tantrums. 

There are several variants of these tantr...

Sometimes when I read reports I'm surprised about how diagnostic labels are used.  This is especially true when I try to clarify how a diagnosis was actually made.  This is especially important when it comes to diagnosis that involve a careful evaluation and ruling out of other conditions that may seem similar.  

Here are the top three symptoms that require a thorough evaluation.

• Hyperactivity and Attention Disorders
• H...

Jessica Jacobs died in August. She had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. She is also described as having Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. I say described because I’m not sure I believe that. I think she had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome with Autonomic Dysregulation and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is just a part of that. She lived most of her adult life in Washington, DC but moved back to Twain Harte, California when she became too disabled to continue working. She wanted t...