Psychological Testing

Psychological testing is a type of evaluation that employs standardized measures of cognitive ability, academic skills, and problem solving, as well as appraisals of social and emotional traits and propensities. These tests provide important information about an individual’s areas of strength and weakness, relative to other individuals of the same age.   

Psychological testing is available even if you don’t admit to the full four-week program and can be an important key to unlocking the factors contributing to an individual’s struggles. This type of evaluation is very useful in identifying the types of thinking and learning that contribute to negative life experiences.  

Academic frustration and impaired achievement can result from unique problem-solving strategies and atypical learning styles (especially in standard school settings). Over time, repeated failures and negative results can lead to anxiety and depression.  

The psychological testing that is available at Bridges to Recovery can provide insight into an individual’s organizational skills, analytic process, and methods of communicating. This type of evaluation can detect previously undiagnosed attention problems, learning disabilities, and developmental delays that may underlie an individual’s frustrated achievement.  

It is not unusual for people experiencing anxiety or depression to have struggled academically without ever having sorted out the very real problems underlying their impaired performance. Not being able to hold one’s own in school is a common cause of low self-esteem and is associated with anxiety, depression, and compulsive behaviors, including substance abuse, eating disorders, gambling, and the like.  

Psychological testing makes it possible for the treatment team to implement even more focused and effective interventions. Our comprehensive assessments provide clients with a highly structured, comprehensive evaluation of their cognitive, emotional, and physical functioning to clarify diagnoses and an appropriate treatment approach.

The assessment includes a professional review of prior medical and psychiatric records; psychological diagnostic and psychosocial interviews; psychological testing; medical and psychiatric history interviews; assessment of risk of harm to self or other; and a brief evaluation of current nutritional and physical activity status.

This process takes place over several days and concludes with a feedback session with recommendations for your treatment plan, explanations to the results, and a psychological report that can be sent along to all qualified members of a client’s aftercare team.  

Learn more about the role of psychological testing in residential treatment.