Psychological and neuropsychological testing are specialized procedures for measuring mental and emotional functioning. These tests are usually used to help clarify the psychiatric diagnosis in complicated cases. However they can be used to measure recovery from a brain injury, as objective evidence in court, as part of a psycho-educational evaluation or for a variety of other reasons. Some health plans cover psychological testing if it is deemed medically necessary. However if not, patients may need to pay for these tests out of pocket if the referring psychiatrist, psychologist or counselor feels these tests are medically necessary.
Key Benefits
- Objectively measures mental and emotional functioning
- Clarifies psychiatric diagnosis in complicated cases
- Often suggests directions for treatment
Types of Psychological testing
- Intelligence Testing
- A variety of intelligence tests are available to measure IQ. Subtests measure specific strengths and weakness in various verbal and performance categories.
- Personality and Projective Testing
- A variety of personality and projective tests are available to measure the predominant character traits and defense mechanisms used by patients when relating to other people. This may help explain why certain relationship patterns or problem behaviors keep recurring in the patients' lives.
- Neuropsychological Testing
- A variety of tests are available to measure cognitive and memory functions that correlate with the activities of specific brain regions. This helps look for evidence of brain dysfunction even when medical tests such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) fail to detect abnormalities.