This chapter presents a discussion of the nature of psychological tests, how they are constructed, and how clinical psychologists use them. It shows that most psychological tests can be categorized as measuring (a) intellectual abilities; (b) attitudes, interests, and values; or (c) aspects of personality, including psychopathology. Tests can also be categorized according to the kinds of responses requested – some ask for brief, easily scored responses (such as true or false), whereas others require longer, more difficult-to-score responses (such as stories or drawings). The chapter presents descriptions of the tests that are most commonly used by clinicians. It also provides information about the tests’ psychometric properties, including how their designers seek to avoid bias when the instruments are used with diverse client populations. It also discusses these tests’ clinical utility. The chapter concludes with a summary of recent developments in psychological testing.

This chapter describes basic principles of neuropsychology, patterns of neuropsychological dysfunction, methods of neuropsychological assessment, and neuropsychological approaches to psychopathology. It presents a history of clinical neuropsychology and illustrates the ways in which clinical neuropsychologists perform assessments and help design interventions for patients who experience neurological, cognitive, and/or psychological dysfunction related to conditions stemming from developmental, medical, degenerative, or other kinds of problems. It also highlights their research on both normal and abnormal brain functioning, pointing out that this research has helped shed light on psychological disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, and on neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease or the effects of a concussion. The chapter portrays clinical neuropsychology as a rapidly growing field for which specialized training is required. Its practitioners must understand brain–behavior relationships and develop competence with a variety of assessment and intervention techniques that are unique to the field.

This chapter presents an overview of methods used in clinical assessment, classification, and diagnosis. After outlining the range of assessment options available to clinicians, it describes the typical goals of assessment, including diagnosis, description, treatment planning, and prediction. It also introduces some of the most important variables that affect a clinician’s choices about how to conduct an assessment, including its purpose, the clinician’s theoretical views, the psychometric properties of available assessment instruments, and other contextual factors. The chapter discusses the strengths and weaknesses of human clinical judgment when compared to AI and other actuarial procedures, focusing especially on the errors that clinicians tend to make but strive to avoid. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the results of clinical assessments are communicated to clients and third parties, and the factors and formats associated with assessment reports.

This chapter describes approaches to psychotherapy that grew from learning theory and cognitive psychology, as well as acceptance-based approaches that have a long history in Eastern faiths and philosophies. They are frequently combined in practice and share a strong record of empirical support for their efficacy. The chapter describes behavior therapists’ use of learning-based techniques designed to identify and change maladaptive behavior, and cognitive therapists’ efforts to change clients’ unhelpful thinking patterns about events and themselves that serve to maintain many disorders. The chapter also explains that because behavioral and cognitive approaches are compatible, they are often combined into various forms of cognitive behavior therapy, which is one of today’s most popular approaches to psychological treatment. The chapter also describes acceptance-based approaches, which are central to acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and mindfulness treatments, all of which emphasize the value of accepting thoughts, feelings, and experiences (even negative ones) and learning how to observe reactions without judging them.

This chapter describes the strengths and limitations of the methods that clinical scientists have used to determine if and how those various therapies work. These include box score reviews, within-subjects designs, between-subjects designs, and randomized controlled trials. The chapter contains a review of the latest research findings on the efficacy and effectiveness of established treatments as well as of alternative modes of intervention, with emphasis on the need to answer the “ultimate question” about psychotherapy, namely what treatment, by whom, is most effective for this individual with that specific problem, under which set of circumstances, and how does it come about? There is also a discussion about the internal and external validity of psychotherapy outcome research and how these factors affect clinical practice. The chapter concludes with a discussion of research on the effects of using psychoactive drugs, with or without psychotherapy, in the treatment of psychological disorders.

This chapter describes some of the ways that clinical psychologists contribute to the legal system and to legal decision-making. Forensic psychologists contribute to decisions about whether a defendant is competent to stand trial, whether a defendant was insane at the time he or she committed a crime, and whether certain individuals are a threat to themselves or others. Clinicians also become involved in civil actions, such as determinations about the role of stress or the extent of psychological damage following accidents or other traumatic events. Their involvement in criminal profiling and psychological autopsies is infrequent, but forensic clinical psychologists are commonly asked to perform activities such as psychological evaluations in child custody and divorce proceedings.

This opening chapter provides a broad survey of the field. It describes what features define clinical psychology and what clinical psychologists do in their roles as researchers, therapists, teachers, consultants, and administrators. It describes the increasingly diverse demographic characteristics of clinicians and their clients, and the wide range of settings in which they work. The chapter also outlines the personal, educational, and experiential requirements needed to enter the field. It discusses the continued appeal of clinical psychology as a profession, popular conceptions and misconceptions about clinical psychologists held by the general public, and how clinical psychology overlaps with, and differs from, other mental health professions, including counseling, school, and educational psychology, as well as social work and psychiatry.

This chapter describes the wide variety of interview and observation techniques commonly used by clinical psychologists in their work as therapists and researchers. It categorizes interviews according to their goals, including intake, diagnosis, orientation for treatment or research, problem-referral, termination or debriefing, and crisis intervention. It then describes the characteristics of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured interviews, the typical stages of interviews and what research has revealed about the reliability and validity of differing types of interviews. Clinical observational techniques are described in much the same manner, including discussion of their goals and types as well as research on their strengths and limitations. The chapter also highlights various factors – particularly interview and observation structure, client diversity, and clinicians’ biases – that can affect the results of interviews and observations.

This chapter describes the events that led to the birth of clinical psychology as a science and a profession. It outlines three traditions that shaped the field and continue to influence it: (a) the use of scientific research methods – the empirical tradition; (b) the measurement of individual differences – the psychometric tradition; and (c) the classification and treatment of psychological disorders – the clinical tradition. It shows how the field grew slowly but steadily during the first half of the twentieth century, then saw explosive growth both in size and in the diversity of its major theoretical approaches, including the psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, cognitive, cognitive behavioral, social systems, and biological. It also tells the story of how these approaches developed and presents examples of how various approaches might be applied in clinical cases. The chapter concludes with a summary of the latest developments in clinical psychology that will surely shape its future.

This chapter describes how clinical psychologists work with medical professionals to treat disorders, help patients to cope with the stress of medical conditions, and to adhere to medical treatment recommendations. It also describes factors that contribute to disease, focusing on relationships between psychosocial factors (such as stress and unhelpful patterns of thinking) and physical factors (such as nervous system activity, circulation, and immune system functioning). The chapter also includes a description of behavioral and psychological risk factors that enhance the likelihood of illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, and cancer. Also discussed are programs for preventing or minimizing the impact of those risk factors.

This chapter describes professional issues within clinical psychology. It includes summaries of several national conferences on training, the development of the doctor of psychology (PsyD) degree, and the establishment of the clinical scientist model, the scientist-practitioner model, and the practitioner-scholar model of clinical training. It also outlines the contours of professional regulation including via certification and licensure by state clinical psychology boards, and the American Board of Professional Psychology. It also discusses the ethical standards of the American Psychological Association, and regulation of clinical psychologists’ behavior by the APA ethics committee and state licensing boards. The chapter tells the story of how clinical psychologists gained the right to practice psychotherapy independently and to receive insurance coverage for mental health services, summarizes the impact of changes in the economics of mental health service delivery, and provides the latest information on the controversy over clinicians’ right to prescribe medication. There is also a review of efforts being made to enhance clinicians’ multicultural competence and, based on historical and current forces in the field, a set of predictions about where clinical psychology is heading in the future.

This chapter describes two specialized fields of clinical psychology, namely clinical child psychology and geropsychology. It provides a brief history of each field and describes the unique characteristics of clients who are young and who are old. It also describes the special features of the assessment methods that clinicians use with both types of clients, and outlines some of the most common disorders of childhood, adolescence, and old age. The chapter also includes a summary of empirically supported treatments that are available to address these problems and highlights the special ethical considerations required when doing so.

This chapter describes the features that are common to most clinical interventions, focusing primarily on psychotherapy. It examines what psychotherapy actually is like and contrasts that description with how therapy is portrayed in popular media. It includes a description of the participants in psychotherapy and what research tells us about clients and therapists and which of their characteristics influence therapy outcomes. Next comes a summary of the goals and basic processes involved in clinical interventions, as well as the professional and ethical codes that help guide practitioners in conducting treatment in the most professional fashion. The chapter ends with a description of practical aspects of treatment such as duration, fees, record keeping, treatment planning, therapist self-disclosure, and termination.