Health and Psychology

What is the purpose of psychological testing?

If you have a question about how somene thinks, how they get along, how they can do in school or how they can improve relationships, then psychological testing may be able to provide a lot of information in a brief period of time.  Often people come to an office wanting a specific test.  This is such a disservice to them and to the practice of psychology.  So in my explanation to people I explain it's like going to a physician and asking for a specific lab test to get a diagnosis.  I don't know any physician who wil run a white blood cell count only to diagnose if someone is sick.  But people will ask for an IQ test, or a specific personality test from a psychologist.

Tests are designed to help a psychologist evaluate how someone is functioning.  In some cases the referral question is complicated and requires a lot of testing.  In other cases the question is much smaller.  In some rare cases a single test may be perfect.

I prefer questions that are descriptive. 

• "When I'm at work I can't seem to get things organized.  I feel scattered.  I can't remember things.  Someone said I might have Adult ADD but I'm worried it's Alzheimer's disease.  That runs in my family."
• "My child does poorly at math, and her grades on tests are bad.  What can I do to help her?"
• "I've always done well at school, but I'm generally bad on tests.  Now I'm looking to take a big test and I'd like extra time for it."
• "I've been sick, but my doctor's can't find anything wrong.  So they referred me to a therapist.  I think they are just giving me the brush off.  What can you do?"

In all of the above questions psychological testing may be very helpful. 

In some cases the testing might be simple.  A couple of questionnaires and a history might quickly rule out an Adult ADD or Alzheimer's diagnosis, and raise hormonal or sleep difficulties that might be a better explanation for loss of attention and memory. In other cases a neuropsychological assessment can differentiate those and provide reassurance or information towards treatment options.

Some simple tests might help to evaluate a learning disorder in a school age child.  We can also explain directly to the child what they can do to help study and prepare for school work and can help a parent work with the school to assist the child.

In some cases the evaluation might be complex.  A request for accommodations on a test for a license or certification might require essentially a research study with the person being a single subject.  What helps, does extra time improve functioning or not?  Do frequent rest breaks improve things?  What about food breaks?  What about noise reduction?  What about changes in lighting?  What about changes in temperature?  Those types of changes take time to set up and document.  Testing can take multiple days.  Testing can mimic the formal test to be taken so the difficulties can be understood, documenting the need for accommodations and the improvements that are anticipated.

While testing can help in a wide variety of situations, in some cases what is needed is an explanation of what is going on.  In the last qustion we can help someone understand the process of medical diagnosis and need for clarification of symptoms to help a physician diagnose.  We can set up the documentation systems, and the communication techniques that might help obtain a diagnosis and can help communicate with a physician.