Psychological Assessments: First Step For Teen Mental Health Treatment

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Taking your child to see a mental health professional for psychological assessments could lead to a big sigh of relief. If, for example, your teenager possesses symptoms of a mental illness and a diagnosis is formulated, at least you have information to take the appropriate steps forward, such as finding the right teen mental health treatment, making healthy decisions, and providing the care that your child needs. On the other hand, if there is no diagnose, you can put your worrying to rest.

 

There’s no harm in having your child participate in a psychological assessment.

 

Psychological Assessments

  • The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) assesses depression. It is a short questionnaire that is fairly straightforward and easy to read and answer.
  • The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) assesses symptoms of stress and anxiety. It includes a chart listing various symptoms of anxiety. A teen filling out this form is required to rate those symptoms, based on how much he or she has experienced them in the last 30 days.
  • Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale II (A-DES) is a 30 question form that that measures the degree of dissociation that a teen experiences. Dissociation is a symptom that often results from trauma, whether experienced in childhood or later in life. Dissociation varies in intensity with each individual and experience in different ways. Two forms of dissociation are an inability to feel one’s body and feeling as though one’s environment is not real.
  • Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is an assessment that measures the degree of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
  • Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) is a tool for assessing behavior and signs of an eating disorder. It measures attitudes towards eating as well as psychological traits such as perfectionism, insecurity, and impulse control.

 

All of these tools are self-report measures, meaning they are forms that invite adolescents to disclose the nature and severity of symptoms. Based on their answers, compared to a scale provided, an early diagnosis might be formulated. Along with family mental health history, and other essential information gathered by the psychologist, psychologist, or therapist, an assessment can be crucial tool in diagnosing and treating teens.

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Psychological Assessments: First Step For Teen Mental Health Treatment
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Jan 23, 2014
Pat D'Amico
Behavior Issues
Lucy Nguyen
Lucy Nguyen, LMFT

Clinical Reviewer
Lucy Nguyen is the Executive Director at Paradigm Treatment, overseeing all clinical treatment programs across the organization's southwestern region. Her extensive experience includes working with young adults in private practice, serving as a therapist for children and teens with emotional and behavioral needs, and acting as a behavior interventionist for teens with developmental disorders. Lucy integrates cognitive-behavioral approaches with mindfulness and compassion in her work, and she is also EMDR-trained. She holds a Master of Science in Counseling from California State University, Fullerton, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine.
Taking your child to see a mental health professional for psychological assessments could lead to a big sigh of relief. If, for example, your teenager possesses symptoms of a mental illness and a diagnosis is formulated, at least you have information to take the appropriate steps forward, such as finding the right teen mental health treatment, making healthy decisions, and providing the care that your child needs. On the other hand, if there is no diagnose, you can put your worrying to rest.
 
There’s no harm in having your child participate in a psychological assessment.
 
Psychological Assessments
  • The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) assesses depression. It is a short questionnaire that is fairly straightforward and easy to read and answer.
  • The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) assesses symptoms of stress and anxiety. It includes a chart listing various symptoms of anxiety. A teen filling out this form is required to rate those symptoms, based on how much he or she has experienced them in the last 30 days.
  • Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale II (A-DES) is a 30 question form that that measures the degree of dissociation that a teen experiences. Dissociation is a symptom that often results from trauma, whether experienced in childhood or later in life. Dissociation varies in intensity with each individual and experience in different ways. Two forms of dissociation are an inability to feel one’s body and feeling as though one’s environment is not real.
  • Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is an assessment that measures the degree of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
  • Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) is a tool for assessing behavior and signs of an eating disorder. It measures attitudes towards eating as well as psychological traits such as perfectionism, insecurity, and impulse control.
 
All of these tools are self-report measures, meaning they are forms that invite adolescents to disclose the nature and severity of symptoms. Based on their answers, compared to a scale provided, an early diagnosis might be formulated. Along with family mental health history, and other essential information gathered by the psychologist, psychologist, or therapist, an assessment can be crucial tool in diagnosing and treating teens.
   



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