Clinical Psychology, Assessments and Personality Disorders
A psychological assessment can include several components such as norm-referenced psychological tests, informal tests and surveys, interview information, school or medical archives, medical evaluation and observations. A psychologist determines what information to use upon the specific enquiries.
Psychological assessments may be written or given orally, or administered via a computer. They may involve a series of questions to determine how often you or a loved one experience certain symptoms, or you may be prompted to choose statements that best describe how you think, feel, and behave.
Most psychological evaluations involve talking to the psychologist about yourself and symptoms such as anxiety and trouble sleeping in an interview, doing some questionnaires about yourself, and possibly some activities that look at how your brain is working.
Psychological evaluation
Psychological evaluation is a method to assess an individual’s behaviour, personality, cognitive abilities, and several other domains and is generally undertaken by a Clinical Psychologist or Psychiatrist with specialised training and evaluation tools.
Can you fake a psychological evaluation?
Psychologists are often asked to support the courts in answering a psycho-legal question. Such psychological assessment is subject to malingering or deception. Examinees may attempt to either fake good or fake bad in both the interview and testing. This poses challenges for the professional providing the information within a court process. As a result, many psychologists prefer not to make legal submission assessments in cases where there is a requirement for reliance on a psychological report.
A personality disorder is a kind of mental disorder that features a inflexible and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning and behaving. A person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating to situations and people. DSM-5 lists ten specific personality disorders: paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, dependent and obsessive–compulsive personality disorder.
What is the most difficult personality disorder?
Borderline Personality Disorder is considered to be the most “Difficult” to treat. This is defined by the National Institute of Health (NIH) as a serious mental disorder marked by ongoing instability in moods, behaviour, self-image, and functioning.
Recognizing borderline personality disorder
Do you identify with the following statements?
- Feeling empty
- My emotions shift very quickly, and I often experience extreme sadness, anger, and anxiety.
- Afraid that people I care about will abandon me or leave me.
- Romantic relationships are intense, but unstable.
- The way I feel about the people in my life can dramatically change from one moment to the next—and I don’t always understand why.
- I often do things that I know are dangerous or unhealthy, such as driving recklessly, having unsafe sex, binge drinking, using drugs, or going on spending sprees.
- Attempts to hurt myself, engage in self-harm behaviours such as cutting, or threatened suicide.
- When feeling insecure in a relationship, I tend to lash out or make impulsive gestures to keep the other person close.
Click here for more information on: The 9 symptoms of BPD
Self-help tips: 3 keys to coping with BPD
- Calm the emotional storm
- Learn to control impulsivity and tolerate distress
- Improve your interpersonal skills
Click here for more information on: 3 Self Tips BPD coping strategies