The Psycho-Diagnostic Assessment (or Assessment) generally takes place over 4 to 5 sessions and aims to precisely identify and define the distress reported by the individual and the underlying personality structure.
In addition to framing the distress, the assessment includes anamnesis (the history of the disorder and brief life history notes) and sometimes the administration of some standardized psychological tests, which may be re-administered at the end of the therapeutic process to observe differences from the beginning.
The objectives of the Psycho-Diagnostic Assessment can be summarized as follows:
- to allow the framing and understanding of the distress
- to highlight the most salient and painful aspects of the problem, which may be the focus of subsequent therapeutic work
- to understand the mechanisms and processes underlying the distress
- to gather information about the environment in which the person lives and the main reference figures (parents, partner, etc.)
- to identify internal (personal), external (related to the environment in which the person lives), and relational factors that have contributed to determining and maintaining the current distress
- to observe the characteristic ways (verbal and non-verbal) in which the patient relates
- to frame the typical “functioning” modes of the person and their personality characteristics
- to identify the person’s resources and potential
- to define the objectives and purposes of the treatment
In summary, the main tools used for the Psycho-Diagnostic Assessment are: interviews with the patient, anamnesis, psychological tests, and observation of the person’s behavior.
At the end of the assessment, the clinician synthesizes and harmoniously elaborates the data collected with the various tools and presents them to the patient, with whom they perform an essential operation of comparison, integration, and reinterpretation of what has emerged up to that point.
Based on the information collected and therapeutic indications, the patient can choose whether to undertake therapy and, if so, agree on objectives and methods with the clinician.
However, the Psycho-Diagnostic Assessment also assumes importance and undeniable utility as a standalone process, independent of the subsequent psychological path. Even if a person does not wish to start therapy, they can certainly benefit from an initial increase in awareness level obtained from the assessment sessions, which can, in itself, represent a strong impetus for change.
