Assessing and Diagnosing
Mental Illness
Don’t worry, I’ve already diagnosed everyone in this
class... 
Does your neighbour have Major
Depressive Disorder?
You can pick a different disorder if you
want...
 Write down 10 questions you would
want to know before diagnosing them
 We will see if your questions include
everything that we are going to talk about
today!
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Frank Has Problems
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Frank is young, serious,
and anxious
Lets clinically assess
him: a clinical
assessment is the
systematic evaluation
and measurement of
psychological, biological,
and social factors in an
individual presenting
with a possible
psychological disorder
We will start with a
clinical interview
Mental Status Exam
This is a preliminary test of a client’s
judgement, orientation to time and place,
and emotional and mental state. Often it
is conducted in the initial interview.
 Want to know their:
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1.Appearance and behavior
2. Thought processes and speech
3. Mood and affect
4. Intellectual functioning
5. Sensorium
Physical Exam
Many problems presenting as disorders of
behavior, cognition, or mood, can have a
relationship to a toxic state
 This toxic state could be caused by bad
food, the wrong medicine, drugs, or the
onset of a serious medical condition (such
as a brain tumor)
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Behavioral Assessment
Directly observe an individual’s behavior
and ask them about their thoughts and
feelings
 Target Behaviors are identified, and the
goal is to determine what is causing or
influencing them
 Uses the ABC’s of Observation
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◦ Antecedents
◦ Behavior
◦ Consequences
Psychological Testing
Must be reliable and valid. What does this
mean?
 Includes:
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Intelligence testing
Neuropsychological testing
Neurobiological procedures
Personality inventories
Projective Tests
Projective Testing
Using psychoanalysis, these test give
ambiguous stimuli to clients in belief that
their responses will reveal their
unconcsious conflicts
 Examples include the Rorschach Ink Blot
Test and the Thematic Apperception Test
 Are these tests reliable?
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Rorschach Ink Blot Test
Thematic Apperception Test
Personality Inventories
These are self-report questionnaires that assess
personal traits
 Example: NEO-PI-R, which measures the Big 5
personality traits:
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◦ Openness to experience – (inventive/curious vs.
consistent/cautious).
◦ Conscientiousness – (efficient/organized vs. easygoing/careless).
◦ Extraversion – (outgoing/energetic vs.
solitary/reserved).
◦ Agreeableness – (friendly/compassionate vs.
cold/unkind).
◦ Neuroticism – (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident).
Personality Inventories
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Example: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory II (MMPI-2)
Measures your degree of anxiety, fears,
obsessiveness, depression, health concerns,
hallucinations and delusions, anger, cynicism,
antisocial practices, Type A vs. B, self-esteerm,
social discomfort, family problems, work
interference, and negative treatment
indicators
The test is almost 600 questions, many of
them repetitive
Intelligence Testing
They can predict your academic success
 Your IQ is not your intelligence!
 Your IQ is your score, or intelligence
quotient on one test-the Stanford-Binet
Test
 There is also the Wechsler Intelligence
Test
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◦ Verbal scales
◦ Performance scales
Intelligence Tests
What kinds of intelligence are there?
 What kinds of things should intelligence
be measuring?
 Attention span
 Perception
 Memory
 Reasoning
 Verbal comprehension
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Neuropsychological Tests
Done when there is expected brain
damage
 Take a long time to complete
 Measure language, attention and
concentration, memory, motor skills,
perceptual abilities, and abstraction
 Ex. Tactile Performance Test-the test taker
places wooden blocks in a certain form
while blindfolded (this tests learning and
memory skills)
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Neuroimaging
Pictures of the brain using CAT scans or
MRI-these show us structures
 If you want to know about the function,
you use a PET scan. This measures activity
of the brain
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Homework
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Complete a personality test similar to one developed
by Jung and Briggs.
This test will measure you on 4 different things. You
will get a 4 letter score.
Mine is ENFJ
You can click on further links to learn about yourself,
and what kinds of careers will be best for you!
Personality Test Link
Write your 4 letter score in your journal and answer
3 questions:
◦ 1. What does your 4 letters mean?
◦ 2. Read the description about yourself. What parts do you
agree with? What parts do you disagree with?
◦ 3. Do you think this is a phony test or a reliable test? Why?