Psychological Assessment
Psychological assessment is a process of testing someone using a combination of techniques to help arrive at some hypotheses about a person and their behaviour, personality and capabilities. It can also be referred to as psychological testing, or performing a psychological battery on a person. Psychologists are the only profession that is expertly trained to perform and interpret psychological tests.
Psychological assessment should never be performed in a vacuum. A part of a thorough assessment of an individual is that they also undergo a full medical examination, to rule out the possibilities of a medical, disease or organic cause for the individual’s symptoms. It’s often helpful to have this done first, before psychological testing (as it may make psychological testing moot).
It is the process that a psychologist uses to learn either general or specific facts about another person. Usually, various tests are administered in conjunction with clinical interviews. The purpose of a thorough clinical or neuropsychological assessment are to determine if there is a problem with emotional, behavioural, learning or personality problems, or if a diagnosis is required. or to inform others of how someone functions now, or to predict behaviour and functioning in the future.