Therapeutic assessment

Therapeutic assessment is a psychological assessment procedure which aims to help people gain insight and apply this new insight to problems in their life.[1] This paradigm is contrasted with the traditional, information-gathering model of psychological assessment, the main goal of which is to accurately diagnose, plan treatments, and evaluate treatment effectiveness.[1][2] Traditional, information-gathering assessment is sometimes viewed as the phase before treatment, whereas therapeutic assessment can be considered the first phase of treatment or as a brief standalone treatment. The term 'Therapeutic Assessment' was coined in 1993 by Stephen E. Finn to describe the semi-structured collaborative assessment paradigm developed by himself and colleagues at the Center for Therapeutic Assessment in Austin, Texas.[3] Finn suggests differentiating the capitalized "Therapeutic Assessment" or the abbreviation, "TA" as the paradigm developed by himself and his colleagues and the lowercase "therapeutic assessment" as the more general term which describes a variety of humanistically based assessment models.[4]

  1. ^ a b Finn, Stephen E; Tonsager, Mary E (December 1997). "Information-gathering and therapeutic models of assessment: complementary paradigms" (PDF). Psychological Assessment. 9 (4): 374–385. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.9.4.374.
  2. ^ Finn, Stephen E (2009). "How is Therapeutic Assessment different from other types of psychological assessment?". therapeuticassessment.com. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  3. ^ Finn, Stephen E (2009). "What is the history of Therapeutic Assessment?". therapeuticassessment.com. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  4. ^ Finn, Stephen E; Kamphuis, Jan H (2006). "Therapeutic Assessment with the MMPI-2" (PDF). In Butcher, James N (ed.). MMPI-2: a practitioner's guide. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. pp. 165–191. doi:10.1037/11287-008. ISBN 978-1591472872. OCLC 57750845.