It’s a psychiatrist’s job to understand how you’re doing mentally. When it comes to that, there are many ways they can check in on your mental state. Conducting psychological evaluations is chief among them.
If it’s your first time undergoing an evaluation, a lot might be going on in your head right now. You might be wondering what kind of questions they might ask, or what sort of tests they will perform.
One thing’s for sure, these evaluations shouldn’t intimidate you. Psychiatrists only use these tests as a doctor would use a check-up to assess your overall health.
What is a psychological evaluation?
When psychiatrists do psychological evaluations, they are testing many traits of your personality.
Conducting psychological evaluations involves screenings and assessments meant to analyze your behavior. You may take written or verbal exams that can help both you and your psychiatrist get a better understanding of the state of your mental health.
Conducting psychological evaluations use several tools, but here are the most common:
- Surveys. Short written forms or questionnaires that have general questions for a wide variety of patients to answer.
- Interviews. One-on-one talks where your patient might describe past experiences.
- Medical exams. Written or verbal tests that serve to analyze a patient’s past and present health.
- Previous medical history. Analyzing a patient’s past health history may help solve their current mental health issue.
These tools can help psychiatric experts diagnose and determine the best treatment plan for any mental health issue.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Psychological evaluations are done across various methods of assessment.
How are psychological evaluations conducted?
There are many ways psychiatrists go about conducting psychological evaluations. They can use a variety of tests focused on different factors and aspects of a person, including:
Personality
Personality tests tend to look into a person’s behaviors and attitude. It is usually based on the environment they live in and their upbringing. These tests always refer to different characteristics of a person’s personality. It helps you to learn more about yourself as you discuss your strengths, weaknesses, and what brings them out.
Aptitude
Where do you often perform at your best? Aptitude tests project what tasks you can succeed in doing in the future. These kinds of tests are also given to students to determine what kind of careers they would be best at. They are best used to gauge one’s ability for logical reasoning during a difficult situation.
Emotional intelligence
These tests measure what actions you take when emotions are a factor in your life. Emotional intelligence is how you express and control your emotions. As a way to uncover a person’s thinking process when they get angry, happy, or sad during any situation, emotional intelligence tests are often used to select employees for high-pressure jobs.
Achievements
Your achievements are an important factor when it comes to the evaluation of your mental state. This test measures how a patient’s interests and achievements affect their cognitive state. More specifically, it focuses on how an individual’s skills and knowledge can help them succeed at a certain grade level.
Neuropsychological
Neuropsychological tests measure general intellect and mental functions such as reading comprehension. The end goal of these types of tests is to get a better understanding of the brain’s capacity to perform a set of complex skills, such as logical reasoning, remembering, and solving problems. Neuropsychological tests can help detect the onset of numerous mental conditions, such as dementia and brain tumors. They can also help determine the extent of traumatic brain injuries.
There is nothing to be afraid of when it comes to taking a psychological evaluation. You just need to look for a psychiatric clinic that has the right tools and experience to give you an accurate assessment of your mental state.
If you live within and around Grapevine, TX, check out Mid Cities Psychiatry and learn how our team of mental health professionals can handle your testing needs. Contact us today!