top of page

Diagnostic Assessment

Mental illness diagnosis tests are designed to help both parties understand what’s happening. Sometimes, when someone is in crisis or under extreme duress due to mental illness symptoms, it’s hard to untangle them and discuss them in detail. To be sure, people can feel what’s wrong, they can think about it, they are living it, but communicating clearly in a clinical setting is difficult. The goal of psychological assessments is to sort out the mental illness signs and symptoms, to understand not just the problems but the person’s strengths, in order to arrive at the correct mental illness diagnosis.

​

These mental illness tests are used by practitioners because they seek to understand. Rather than hurting the client with a judgement or a label, such tests help him/her be understood. Equipped with all this understanding, proper mental health treatment and healing can begin.

What is a Mental Illness Diagnosis Test?

A test for mental illness is a mental health assessment that looks for specific psychological traits, abilities, and problems. A test is an assessment, or a measurement, of symptoms. Sometimes, the word “test” has negative connotations, and the very word can induce anxiety. Mental illness diagnosis tests aren’t like tests in school. The don’t have “right” or “wrong” answers, there are no grades nor is there a scale to rank you from A-F, and there most certainly is no failing. These assessments are designed to create an accurate picture of a problem so someone can receive proper help and treatment.

Mental illness diagnosis tests have different names, such as:

  • psychological test or assessment

  • neuropsychological test or assessment

  • psychoeducational test

  • psychological measurements

  • mental illness screenings

  • inventories

Types of Mental Illness Diagnosis Tests

  • Mental illness tests go by different names; additionally, there are different types of tests that look for different things. They’re used at different stages of the treatment process, and they all share the goal of understanding what’s going on with someone in order to plan the best, most effective treatment. Some of the various types of tests for mental illness include:

  • general screening questionnaires

  • specific screening questionnaires

  • symptom rating scales

  • neuropsychological tests (measurements of how thinking processes are organized)

  • self-report assessments

  • assessments for specific populations (individuals, primary care physicians, mental health professionals)

  • age-group-specific assessments (children, adolescents, college-age, adults, older adults)

Importance of Mental Illness Assessment

Screening people regularly in primary health care and other health care settings is something that would identify mental health problems before they spiral out of control. Further, assessment is a crucial early step when people begin seeing a mental health professional. Mental illness diagnosis tests help providers understand, and help clients be understood, so that the right kind of treatment can begin.

bottom of page