Tools To Assess Mental Health
Assessing someone’s mental health requires trustworthy and proven tools. Mental health professionals have developed many tests that assist in diagnosing the problem, arriving at the prognosis and appraising the symptoms according to individual needs. Only those relevant to each specific case are used. Some such basic tests are given below.
Intelligence Tests: These are used extensively in educational and business establishments, but they are also useful in testing whether a person is mentally healthy or not. Under controlled conditions, these tests usually throw up mental capabilities, more so when there has been some damage to the brain. Though the tests were initially devised in order to assess abstract reasoning, basic intelligence, spatial memory and verbal fluency, they are also very useful as indicators for very low IQ. This should be used along with other tests for best results.
Neuropsychological Tests: A simple paper and pencil test to assess cognitive and sensorimotor capacities, this test helps to guide the person conducting the test to determining the neuropsychological cause for the illness. Most common is to get the patient to reproduce nine drawings using the Bender-Gestalt Test. This test will detect a tendency to overlook one or more objects within eyesight, or an attention problem. It is primarily used to determine whether the patient has any brain damage but will not however determine the specific damage. While a person diagnosed with a mental problem will be able to reproduce the images, though somewhat haphazardly, when asked to remember the images, they may not be able to as most mentally ill patients suffer from poor memory too.
Personality Inventories: These tests assist in appraising typical behavioral patterns, thought processes and emotions. The results of these tests give an indication of that person’s general sense of well being as well as his opinions, the image he has of himself, his attitudes and beliefs, what hurts him and how he can cope.
Some versions of these tests can usually be accessed online and many do so. While useful as self-help props, these are usually invalidated and cannot be relied upon. To be of value, the tests must be reliable and validated in order to be of use in any testing or else it will be a pointless exercise. If you intend using tests available online, please ensure that these have been approved and certified by people with PhD qualifications. Other tests, duly certified and confirmed by expert professionals in the field of psychological testing, may also be considered.
Symptom Questionnaires: The most commonly used, professionals as well as laymen use symptom questionnaires. Originally these were designed to assess whether a person shows signs of mental disorders. These questionnaires could also be used to assess specific disorders.
