Mental Health Assessments
What Is A Mental Health Assessment?
Psychological and mental health assessments are similar, often done as part of an intake process to help a person access the correct kind of therapy and supports.
Psychological Assessments
Why Do We Do These Assessments?
Mental health assessments help us to determine your areas of need or difficulty, and help point us toward the most effective treatment. Just as a doctor will do a checkup to assess your physical health to discover what is going on and what might help, we are assessing your mental health and well-being. There are many mental health conditions that share common symptoms, and it is important for us to understand exactly what you are feeling and thinking in order to provide an accurate diagnosis and help you in the most appropriate and efficient way.
How Do We Do This Test?
A mental health assessment is generally done through a clinical interview process to identify concerns and to guide treatment. You’ll talk to the therapist about how you’re feeling, what you’re experiencing, and any symptoms or behaviours you’re seeking help for. You will also complete some standardized questionnaires to help determine your specific symptoms, their severity, and to inform treatment.
Things We Look At:
Distressing symptoms
What are the symptoms that are bothering you or getting in your way? Symptoms can be emotional or physical.
Your history and current situation
Things that happen in the past or in our childhood can impact us in the present. Life events and stressors can also impact our mental health.
Thoughts and feelings
Our thoughts and feelings are connected. What we think about a situation can alter our feelings about it and vice versa. Learning different ways to think can help us feel better.
Assessment helps therapy work better:
Many people come to therapy to talk about life’s little hassles and things that bother them. Sometimes they just need a safe, confidential space to vent, and that is just fine. But sometimes, people come to therapy because they are struggling with distressing symptoms, such as symptoms of anxiety, depression, or trauma, that are really having a negative impact on their well-being, relationships, and ability to function. Sometimes it is hard to tell exactly what they are feeling and why.
A mental health (psychological) assessment explores a person’s current symptoms and how they are impacting daily life. We look at a person’s past, sometimes back to childhood, to see if there are patterns of behaviours or events that are shaping how they feel today or how they react in different situations. We explore an individual’s current situation, such as their relationships, home life, and work/school life, to see how those are affecting them, what is going well, and what is not. We then look at problematic symptoms, both by talking and with the use of forms, questionnaires, and “tests” to see if those symptoms fit a formal diagnosis, such as a depressive disorder or an anxiety disorder, among others.
Some diagnoses respond better to certain types of treatment, and we use assessment to determine what the diagnosis is in order to choose the most effective and efficient form of therapy. For example, a person who is struggling with Generalized Anxiety Disorder may be best served by Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, where they learn to notice what events are happening in their lives, what thoughts they have about those events that cause anxiety, and then learn to address those thoughts, which then helps them feel differently. Another person whose anxiety is only related to spiders (a Specific Phobia) may be better served by Exposure Therapy, where they are taught strategies to calm themselves and then create a “fear ladder” to be exposed to spiders (i.e., a picture of a spider, a spider behind glass, a spider across the room, a spider near them), while practicing their calming strategies at each level.
Insurance and Benefits
Finally, some insurance companies and health benefits require a diagnosis in order to cover the cost of treatment. The cost, or part of the cost, of a mental health assessment is also often covered by insurance or health benefits as well, as these organizations understand that an appropriate diagnosis can shorten the length of treatment needed.