Psychological Evaluations

Mental Health Therapy and Psychological Evaluations

Therapy is an ongoing process that requires the client to attend several sessions, generally once a week, until therapeutic progress has been made. The focus of therapy is to address clients’ symptoms and improve their overall mental/emotional health and wellbeing.  Therapy can be beneficial for people experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma response, mood swings, attention issues, family conflict, and other concerns.  Therapy provides a space for people to process their emotions, discuss their problems, receive support and develop adaptive coping skills.  After clients receive therapy they can request documentation which is usually a one page treatment summary.  A treatment summary generally notes the length, focus, and outcome of therapy.

In contrast, a psychological evaluation is a time limited process conducted for the purposes of answering specific questions and used as a diagnostic tool to recommend future treatment  A psychological evaluation can be effectively conducted in one extended session.  Psychological evaluations can be conducted to assesses cognitive ability  and personality traits; to diagnose neuropsychological disorders, attention deficit and learning disabilities among other things. Psychological evaluations are accompanied by comprehensive psychological reports which are several pages long.  In general, psychological reports note the purpose of the evaluation, the methodology of the evaluation, the client’s background history, the client’s current psychological functioning and any applicable diagnoses, test results, summary, prognosis and recommendations for school/work accommodations or medication follow up with your doctor, based on the results of the evaluation.

Why would a Psychological Evaluation be Important? 

Psychological evaluations are important when you are having trouble getting support set up at work or school, needing detailed testing so your primary care doctor can prescribe you medication or have tried ongoing therapy and have not found the improvement you are needing in your mental health and daily functioning. 

Psychological Testing vs Mental Health Assessment for ADHD

Psychological evaluations and mental health assessment can both diagnose for ADHD. 

Mental Health Assessment is the beginning of the ongoing therapy process. Your therapist will interview you for background information and functioning. Short scales will be used to assess your attention struggles as well as weekly face to face sessions for observation of your symptoms and thought processes through your explanation of your daily life and deeper thought and emotional patterns. A one page diagnosis summary can be written up at your request. Some doctors, employers, school systems will accept this one page document to establish medication or accommodations but this is not always that case. However, even if this report is not accepted for some other purpose, getting diagnosed and starting the ongoing therapy process for ADHD can be invaluable as you will learn skills for coping and process the emotional impact of living with ADHD and treatment for other life struggles. 

This process takes 6 weekly sessions to get an official diagnosis but can be billed to insurance as it is ongoing therapy. There is a small report fee should you need the on page report. 

The Psychological evaluation process includes less face time with the psychologist which takes you through a series of in depth scales and tests in one to two meetings. After processing, you will then receive a detailed report explaining your diagnosis and recommendations for treatment or school/work accommodations. This testing will explore more details of your cognitive processing than a mental health assessment would. It can also find more nuance in your mental health, personality and can identify other possible learning challenges that would have been unidentifiable in ongoing therapy.  After this testing you may be referred to start ongoing therapy with a therapist to start building skills for ADHD. Some who are already in ongoing therapy may still find this process beneficial as our psychologist can give treatment recommendations to your ongoing therapist to assist in better benefits from the ongoing therapy process. 

This process takes 4 to 6 weeks to receive your report and recommendations for treatment, school/work accommodations or seeking medication support from your doctor. This process is not billed through your insurance with Live Wellness Center 

How Do I Know Which ADHD Diagnosis Option Is the Best for My Needs? 

Choose based on what you want your diagnosis and report to accomplish for you: