Psychological Assessment

Psychological Assessment Instruments

It's hard to find detailed information on-line relating to psychological assessment instruments, but these are the sources I've found to be the most descriptive.

Which tests are given to a certain individual?
It depends entirely on the administering mental health professional, regional standards, and the level of prior assessment that has been made.

What follows is a list of some of the tests that are administered, ordered very roughly in order of popularity.
The most common is probably the MMPI, which is also the standard test administered during custody and divorce battles.

Multi Health Systems produces a large catalogue of all published psychological assessment tests. They offer an online search of their catalogue, but most of these tests are only avaliable to helath care professionals.
The American Psychological Association also has some great
tips on how to find information on any published test

Read this first:
ABOUT ALL THE COMMON TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS

On This Page:

Read some articles on testing specific to BPD

or:

Go straight to the long list of tests

Articles

Use of structured self-report assessment to diagnose borderline personality disorder during major depressive episodes
by Leslie C Morey,AssessmentSep 2001

What are the issues in "testing" for BPD as opposed to evaluating for it over time?
Read this informative article:
Divergences between clinical and research methods for assessing personality disorders: Implications for research and the evolution of axis II
From The American Journal of Psychiatry, 1997

Comprehensive Table of How Abusive Men Test Out on the Various Psych Assessment Tests
Sad but interesting

Clinician diagnoses of personality disorders: evidence of a hierarchical structure.
by Herkov MJ, Blashfield RK. 1995
Where co-diagnosis occurs, BPD tends to be the overriding diagnosis made.

Laboratory measures of aggression and impulsivity in women with borderline personality disorder
1999

Rights and Responsibilities of Test Takers: Guidelines and Expectations
Scroll down this linked page for valuable information

go back to top

Nice brief overview of a number of tests, what they test and how they work

Check out this comprehensive list of all the tests used by the folks at BehavioralTech in their studies of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy in the treatment of BPD

[NOTE: the Behavioraltech site was destroyed by fire in December 2001; they are working to re-establish it]

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 ® (MMPI)

More details on the MMPI-2

Bob Gordon's MMPI/MMPI-2 Information Site
This is of particular interest if you have a copy of the relevant MMPI scores.

OK, I couldn't resist: here's Mike Tyson's post-ear-bite court-ordered MMPI
Tyson was found "normal" by this evaluator (this should also give you an idea of how some of these things look when written up in prose reports, even if your testee hasn't bitten any ears off)

What would a suspected Borderline's MMPI scores look like? Read this:
MMPI-2 VALIDITY SCALES AND SUSPECTED PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME

The Propensity for Abusiveness Scale PAS ®
by Donald Dutton, 1995.
Excellent full-text review by the author of the scale.

Diagnostic Interview for Borderline Personality- Revised ® (DIBR)
Borderline Symptom List
Newly developed in 2001; not yet in general use

Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders ® (SCID-II)
More on the SCID-II

Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III ® (MCMI-III)
Details on the MCMI-III from Millon's home page

Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality ® (SNAP)

Kernberg's Borderline Personality Inventory ® (BPI)

The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES)

The Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank ® (RISB)

go back to top

Adult Attachment Interview

Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised® (PCL-R)

NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI)