Monday, February 26, 2007
Psychoeducational Evaluation
In 1999, I volunteered to let a Psychology Ph.D intern do a "Psychoeducational Evaluation" on me. It was pretty time consuming, & afterward I was given a 5 page report that disappeared into my files before I had done more than scan it. I just found it. It is interesting reading for me. Some of the tests were tedious, & I could tell the young man hadn't had enough clinical experience to conduct a smooth interview, so I was giving some guarded responses - that is, I was jiving him.
"His affect appeared to be somewhat flat. At times he seemed to get a bit impatient with the testing process, but he was always extremely cooperative."The tests included the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales; The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory; The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory; & the two most difficult: The Thematic Apperception Test; & The Rorschach. I put up a lot of resistance to people getting inside my head because I'm afraid of what's in there, & when they're using standardized tests to do it, evasiveness is very difficult. They don't need to chase me around; the tests will force me to give it up. As it turned out, he appreciated my Rorschach responses. I had to explain them in some instances.
"On the Rorschach, Robert provided a large number of unusual, idiosycratic responses. Robert's responses were often unique, showing that he perceived things that were not typically seen by other respondents. However, Robert's responses could often be seen by the examiner after Robert explained them, demonstration that although unusual, they were not divorced from reality."He did note that the "Rorschach & TAT responses indicate that he may become overwhelmed by emotionally laden situations." The TAT pictures were very peculiar, & one of my negative reactions not noted by the intern was that, unlike the abstract & oddly interesting Rorschach inkblots, they looked dated, very 1930s & very Freudian, & that was getting in my way as if he were showing me Depression era paintings & asking me to use them to comment on contemporary art. Or maybe I just didn't want to go where I thought they might lead me, into some repressed psycho-sexual swamp with mom, dad & the whole family. At the time, my anxieties were over more mundane matters.
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
My third husband was getting his PhD in clinical psychology during our marriage. We bought an extra set of Rorschach, framed them, and placed them throughout the dining room. We used to have guets over for dinner once a week, utilizing our own "dinner therapy" format. We had an artist that was in attendance who drew a cartoon of the evening. We had planned to publish a book of our cartoons, entitled "Dinner Therapy," but never did.
At that time, I was involved in a bitter custody dispute over my only daughter, and my second husband, her father. It culminated (the first time, for he brought a second action for permanent custody when she was seven years old) with a full scale psychological exam as to both him and me. This exam would include pretty much everything you had to take. Except, I had all the tests at my disposal. So, I practiced. Yup, I took that damn MMPI probably eight times before I actually took it for real in my psych evaluation as to whether I was a fit parent! Trust me, I didn't score anything below that "line." Same for the WAIS test. Ha ha, according to that test, after all my pre-tests, I scored in the genius level... ta DA!
On the other hand, my ex spouse came out narcissistic ... among other rather not-so-perfect as primary parent qualities.
I do appreciate the many very good and qualified psychologists, especially those that have helped me out during different difficult phases of my life. There are those that are in the profession with profoundly mistaken desires and goals as to their ability and effectiveness in helping others. That student that had the "cutting" problem manning the suicide hot line in my area gave me the wilies. The fact that psychology PhD candidates have to do a year of therapy, and most candidates' failure to complete this requirement, is a telling sign.
At that time, I was involved in a bitter custody dispute over my only daughter, and my second husband, her father. It culminated (the first time, for he brought a second action for permanent custody when she was seven years old) with a full scale psychological exam as to both him and me. This exam would include pretty much everything you had to take. Except, I had all the tests at my disposal. So, I practiced. Yup, I took that damn MMPI probably eight times before I actually took it for real in my psych evaluation as to whether I was a fit parent! Trust me, I didn't score anything below that "line." Same for the WAIS test. Ha ha, according to that test, after all my pre-tests, I scored in the genius level... ta DA!
On the other hand, my ex spouse came out narcissistic ... among other rather not-so-perfect as primary parent qualities.
I do appreciate the many very good and qualified psychologists, especially those that have helped me out during different difficult phases of my life. There are those that are in the profession with profoundly mistaken desires and goals as to their ability and effectiveness in helping others. That student that had the "cutting" problem manning the suicide hot line in my area gave me the wilies. The fact that psychology PhD candidates have to do a year of therapy, and most candidates' failure to complete this requirement, is a telling sign.
Really enjoyed your comment. The clinic's staff shrinks & therapists didn't need to do these tests, they'd seen everything. The therapist I eventually got was a beautiful Russian woman still working on her English fluency - one reason I was given to her - I helped her with colloquialisms, since I used plenty of them myself. For all she had disliked about the Soviet Union, she was still a socialist, thought health care availability was terrible in the United States, & also thought this country treated its creative people shamefully - we had no guilds, no health insurance, & very little reliable support from the government.
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