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The Comprehensive Psychological Assessment

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Handbook of Clinical Rating Scales and Assessment in Psychiatry and Mental Health

Part of the book series: Current Clinical Psychiatry ((CCPSY))

Abstract

Although rating scales and checklists are useful and informative for some clinical situations and settings, there are times when a more comprehensive psychological or neuropsychological assessment is called for. The present chapter outlines the different forms of psychological assessment and how a more comprehensive assessment might lead to improved diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, the use of psychological assessment as a therapeutic intervention will also be addressed and explained. Finally, the specifics of how to ask a good referral question that might result in a beneficial assessment will be discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

    Steven R. Smith

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Jessica A. Little Ph.D

  3. Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Lisa A. Nowinski Ph.D

  4. Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Sara J. Walker Ph.D

Authors
  1. Steven R. Smith
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  2. Jessica A. Little Ph.D
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  3. Lisa A. Nowinski Ph.D
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  4. Sara J. Walker Ph.D
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven R. Smith .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School, One Bowdoin Square, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Lee Baer  & Mark A. Blais  & 

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© 2009 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Smith, S.R., Little, J.A., Nowinski, L.A., Walker, S.J. (2009). The Comprehensive Psychological Assessment. In: Baer, L., Blais, M.A. (eds) Handbook of Clinical Rating Scales and Assessment in Psychiatry and Mental Health. Current Clinical Psychiatry. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-387-5_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-387-5_14

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-966-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-387-5

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