Diagnostic Tests

According to Gary Groth-Marnat and Bernard Weiner, “Psychological assessment contributes important information to the understanding of individual characteristics and capabilities, through the collection, integration, and interpretation of information about an individual”

Psychological Tests help the clinician to reach a proper diagnosis of the patient or to confirm the diagnosis so that a proper line of treatment can be designed. These tests are standardised tools which are valid and reliable.

There are various kinds of Psychological Tests available, each one to access a particular field like: Cognitive Functioning Tests, Personality Tests, IQ Tests or Achievement Tests, Interpersonal, Screening and Diagnostic Tests, Neurological Tests.

There are other tests also which tells about different variables like quality of life, parenting stress, aptitude, guilt, perceived stress, parent-child relation, intimacy and more.

• IQ Tests: These tests are used to measure the intelligence of a child or adult. There are both verbal and nonverbal questions and tasks which the patient needs to complete on which proper grading is done according to the rules. After the test is administered all the scores are compiled together and the report is prepared.
• Neurological Tests: Neuropsychological assessment is a performance-based method to assess cognitive functioning. It is a clinical examination of both the working brain and dysfunctional brain. It gives a profile of the deficits and adequacies in the behaviour of patients which are explained by underlying cognitive, emotional and volition deficits, and changes in the personality. It assesses a variety of cognitive ability areas, with more than one test per ability area. These ability areas include skills such as memory, attention, processing speed, reasoning, judgment, and problem-solving, spatial, and language functions.
• Personality Tests: Personality tests are used to assess human personality. There are different types of personality tests. Some being objective or self-rating scales where the patient needs to answer the question in true or false format or rate the statement on a scale of 0-5, most appropriate for them. The other kind is called the semi projective and projective tests where the patient responds to an ambiguous stimulus and reveals the hidden emotion and conflict of the person, which even he or she may be unaware about. The responses are analysed critically by trained personnel and a collaborated report is made keeping other test findings and case history in mind.
• Diagnostic Tests: There are various kinds of screening and diagnostic tests which are available. It helps make a proper diagnosis of the clinical disorder and also gives the idea about the severity of the illness (mild, moderate, severe), some examples of which are - depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety etc.