Learning Objectives

After completing your study of this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

• Explain the work of clinical and counseling psychologists and other mental health counselors.
• Describe how mental health practitioners use psychological tests to diagnose mental health problems, plan treatment programs, monitor client progress, and assess treatment outcomes.
• Identify the different kinds of psychological tests used in clinical and counseling settings.
• Discuss how psychological tests are used in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Define evidence-based assessment.
• Explain the two final products of psychological testing in clinical and counseling settings.

Chapter Summary

Clinical and counseling settings are offices, hospitals, agencies, clinics, and other environments staffed by professionals with expertise in helping people with mental health problems or problems in everyday life. Psychologists and other mental health professionals administer psychological tests in clinical and counseling settings for a variety of reasons. They use tests to make diagnoses, plan treatment, monitor treatment progress, and assess treatment outcomes. They also use tests to answer questions posed by others about a client’s problems and strengths, or posed by clients themselves. Tests are available in a variety of formats, including structured interviews, behavior rating scales, self-report personality tests, projective tests, cognitive and memory tests, and specialized neuropsychological and forensic tests. The test used depends on a client’s needs and on the preference of the clinical or counseling professional. Psychological tests can be useful when diagnosing autism spectrum disorders, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease. Psychologists and other mental health professionals use tests in conjunction with information they gather in other ways, such as clinical interview, reviews of records, interviews with informants, and observing behavior.

Regardless of how information is gathered, the final product of psychological testing in most clinical and counseling contexts is a meeting with the client to go over results and a written psychological evaluation report.