6.

ASSESSING
Ampayon, Butuan City 8600,
Philippines
URL: www.carsu.edu.ph

AND
DIAGNOSING
ABNORMALITY
Psych 110- Abnormal Psychology
Facilitator: Ruth E. Sanchez
 Lecture 6. Assessing and Diagnosing Abnormality
A. Assessment and Diagnosis
B. Assessment Tools
a. Validity, Reliability, and Standardization
b. Clinical Interview
Mental Status Exam
Structured Interview
UNIT c. Symptom Questionnaires
d. Personality Inventories
OUTLINE e. Behavioral Observation and Self-Monitoring
f. Intelligence Tests
g. Neuropsychological Tests
h. Brain-Imaging Techniques
Computerized Tomography (CT)
Positron-Emission Tomography (PET)
Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography
(SPECT)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
 i. Psychophysiological Tests
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Electrodermal response
j. Projective Tests
Rorschach Inkblot Test
UNIT Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
C. Challenges in Assessment
OUTLINE a. Resistance To Providing Information
b. Evaluating Children
c. Significant Cultural Differences
D. Diagnosis
a. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM)
b. The Social-Psychological Dangers of
Diagnosis
 ASSESSMENT AND DIAGNOSIS

• Assessment: process of gathering information and

determine appropriate diagnosis

• Diagnosis: set of symptoms occurring together

VALIDITY: accuracy of a test
 RELIABILITY: consistency in measuring what
it’s supposed to measure

STANDARDIZED: prevents extraneous factors

 ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Clinical Interview
• Mental Status Exam: person’s general
functioning
• Structured Interview: series of questions
about symptoms

Symptom Questionnaires: quick way to

determine a person’s symptoms
 ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Personality Inventories: assess people’s typical
ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI): most widely used
personality inventory

Behavioral Observation: assess deficits in skills

Self-monitoring: keeping track of oneself

 ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Intelligence Tests: get a sense of one’s
intellectual strengths and weaknesses
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

Neuropsychological Tests: to detect specific

cognitive deficits
• Bender-Gestalt Test: assess sensorimotor
skills
 ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Brain-Imaging Techniques: determine brain
injury or tumor
• Computerized Tomography (CT): provides
brain structure image
• Positron-emission Tomography (PET):
picture of brain activity
• Single Photon Emission Computed
Tomography (SPECT): similar to PET, but
with different tracer substance injected
 ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Brain-Imaging Techniques: determine brain
injury or tumor
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI):
provides much more finely detailed pictures
of the anatomy of the brain
• Structural MRI: static images of brain
structure
• Functional MRI (fMRI): images of brain
activity
 ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Psychophysiological Tests: detect changes in
the brain and nervous system
• Reflect emotional and psychological
changes
• Electroencephalogram (EEG): measures
electrical activity along the scalp
• Electrodermal response: reflect emotional
arousal
 ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Projective Tests: interpret stimulus with their
current state
• Useful in uncovering unconscious issues or
motives
• Rorschach Inkblot Test: asks the patients
what the inkblot means to him/her
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): make
up a story about what is happening in the
series of pictures presented
 CHALLENGES IN ASSESSMENT

• Resistance To Providing Information

• Evaluating Children
• Significant Cultural Differences
• Language barrier
 DIAGNOSIS
• Diagnosis: label we attach to a set of symptoms
• Syndrome: set of symptoms
• Classification System: set of syndromes
and the rules for determining symptoms
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, or DSM: United States
• International Classification of Disease
(ICD): Europe and much of the rest of the
world
 DIAGNOSIS
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental
Disorders (DSM)
• First Edition of the DSM (1952): outlined the
diagnostic criteria for all the mental disorders, but
were somewhat vague
• Second Edition of the DSM (DSM-II) (1968):
reliability of the diagnoses was low
• Third Edition of the DSM (DSM-III) (1980) >
Revised Third Edition (DSM-IIIR) (1987) > Fourth
Edition (DSM-IV) (1994) > Revised Fourth Edition
(DSM-IV-TR) (2000)
 DIAGNOSIS
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental
Disorders (DSM)
• Revised Fourth Edition (DSM-IV-TR)
(2000): replaced vague descriptions
• Newest Edition of the DSM (DSM-5) (2013):
added some new diagnoses and modified the
criteria for others
 THE SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL DANGERS
OF DIAGNOSIS
• Thomas Szasz: many biases are inherent in
determining who is labeled as having a mental
disorder
• The primary role of diagnostic systems:
organize the confusing array of psychological
symptoms in an agreed-on manner
• greatly facilitates research on psychological
disorders
• Standardization: lead to faster advances in our
understanding