Therapeutic Assessment
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Transcript of Therapeutic Assessment
8/9/2019 Therapeutic Assessment
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Therapeutic AssessmentBy: Joan Dayger BEHN, PhD, Clinical Psychologist
Therapeutic assessment (TA) is an innovative way to utilize psychological tests within a collaborative
relationship to help individuals, or couples, to change their lives. Individuals facing life decisions are
often in a quandary about the right course for them. People often feel stuck in old patterns of behavior
and do not feel they have sufficient self-awareness to change. Or they may wonder why they seem unable
to implement change. Therapeutic assessment can be an effective way to clarify the situation by
combining the relative sureness of objectively-based information with the opportunity to process the
gained information with a psychologist trained to give feedback.
Therapeutic Assessment utilizes aspects of psychological evaluation and therapy. The assessment aspect
includes the use of standard well-researched tests that provide some "objective" data. Even in a relatively
brief time period, feedback for the client can be broader and deeper than ordinarily possible from simple
time-limited self-report. The therapeutic experience is provided by making the client an active participant
in the process, keeping the well-being of the client in the foreground, and allowing "answers" to develop
collaboratively between psychologist and client. This combination can be a powerful intervention that
respects the individual and places decisions in the hands of the consumer. Unlike traditional evaluations,the client is asked to formulate the questions he/she wants answered and, with the help of the
psychologist, participate in making the findings specific to his/her own life.
Some individuals who have benefited from Therapeutic Assessment include those who feel puzzled about
themselves and want some way to move forward. This may include individuals wondering about their
role in interpersonal relationships, work situations and other life decisions. Gaining a new understanding
of themselves, becoming more aware of how others view them, and changing the way they think about
themselves and their problems are all frequent outcomes of Therapeutic Assessment. People find theinformation, the opportunity to reflect on themselves, and the relationship with the psychologist sufficient
for continued introspection and change on their own. Others decide to begin psychotherapy, motivated bynew insights. Still others may already be in ongoing therapy and want to document change and plan for
the future. Therapeutic Assessment can also be of assistance to the client/therapist pair when a therapy
becomes"stuck". In the later case, the questions may be jointly formed and feedback is given to both
therapist and client together.