Improving Counseling with Psychological Testing By Dr. Tim Sisemore, St. Louis Counseling Center

Counselors are trained to make diagnoses and develop treatment plans, and, for many clients, that tworks just fine. But some cases are more complicated than others, and psychological testing can be helpful in several ways.

First, formal assessment can provide a clearer diagnosis. ADHD is maybe the best case in point. The popular myth is that attention problems imply ADHD – and, of course, they may. But they are also symptoms of depression, anxiety, and sleep deprivation. One must look closely at all the symptoms and their patterns. Psychological assessment tools can help make this vital differential diagnosis.

Then there are the tricky cases that may involve clients who are difficult to “read”, or present with unclear symptom patterns or may have multiple diagnoses or who may just not be able to explain themselves verbally very well. It is not uncommon that lots of valuable data emerge when clients complete forced choice items (like an MMPI-3) rather than express themselves verbally. I personally find it helpful to take data from psychological reports and use them as hypotheses to test in discussion with the client. This has often led to insight and understanding that was missing before.

Testing can also provide the counselor with useful information in couples counseling. The information gained when both partners complete an assessment can often reveal important targets for counseling and provide deeper understanding of the couples’ dynamics.

Finally, adolescents can be notoriously difficult to connect with. There are several helpful personality inventories that target the subtleties of the teen personality that can prove helpful in diagnosing and treating teens, and in seeing past the conflicts in their self-description as compared to what their parents say about them.

Through St. Louis Counseling Center, I offer these evaluations to people across the country. As a member of PsyPact, I can offer telehealth in 35 states. You can contact me for further information at tsisemore@stlouiscounselingcenter.com.