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To summarize:
• Assessment: collecting information about a patient.
• Diagnosis: identification of the nature and cause of a disease or injury.
• Reliability: relates to the degree to which measurements are consistent.
• Validity: refers to the degree to which a technique or test measures what it is designed to measure.
• Clinical interviews examine current behaviours -- what people are doing in their daily lives, what their attitudes are concerning themselves and others, and what sort of problems they describe regarding themselves and their lives.
• Psychologists assess the behaviour of others either by direct observation or by listening to an accounting of previous behaviour.
• Behavioural observations and interviews are direct attempts to determine a patient’s attitudes and problems. Tests, on the other hand, are a more indirect (and often more objective) method of assessing characteristics. There are two types of tests most commonly used by psychologists: psychological tests and neuropsychological tests.
• In addition to a general medical examination, specialized neurological tests may be performed on patients. This type of testing is done because some mental disorders are directly linked to brain pathology.
• With abnormal behaviour, classification involves the description of various types or groups of maladaptive behaviour. Classification is based on generalizations formed from observations.
• A multiaxial assessment, which allows an individual to be evaluated on five different axes. The first three axes rate the individual’s present condition. The last two axes provide a broader assessment of the specific situation of the individual, one dealing with the stressors that may have contributed to the current illness, and the other dealing with how well the individual has been coping in recent months.
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