|
Drs. Robert Heaton and Thomas Marcotte described the purposes and techniques of neuropsychological testing in the Handbook of Neuropsychology, 2nd edition, Volume 1, published in 2000. We are grateful to Dr. Heaton, who is an eminent neuropsychologist, for providing us with the article and encouraging us to use it as our primary source of information. Neuropsychological testing is a necessary supplement to direct physical examination of the brain through computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. These scans are sophisticated techniques for detecting visible physical changes in the brain, but they cannot replace neuropsychological testing because the latter evaluates the functional status of the individual. Some visible physical changes have minimal effects on functioning, while in other cases there may be no visible physical change, even though there is a highly significant functional deficit. Neuropsychological tests are designed to assess several types of functioning, including memory and a variety of cognitive functions. Nearly all of the tests in general use today have been shown to be reliable and to have value in predicting the testee's ability to function vocationally and in the tasks of everyday living. Although no test is a perfect predictor, a neuropsychological battery administered by a competent professional and evaluated by a doctoral-level neuropsychologist can render a valuable and relatively complete picture of the cognitive weaknesses and strengths of the person tested. The tests are usually administered by a psychometrist who has extensive and regular experience in administering and scoring tests. The results are usually interpreted by a neuropsychologist trained and experienced in interpretation. In some cases a flexible battery of tests is used, in an attempt to measure areas of likely deficit while reducing the testing burden on the administrator and testee. In other cases a fixed battery is administered; this is a more standardized procedure designed to sample all or nearly all areas in which deficits might appear. The fixed battery is preferable in most cases because it doesn't require the test administrator to make a series of decisions about which tests to include. It is often desirable to evaluate the degree of loss of function following some illness or injury. This is a difficult task unless baseline measures are available from the period before the traumatic event occurred, because different people may have very different pre-trauma levels of functioning. Thus, in the absence of information about baseline performance, a statement about "impairment" is more likely to be a valid evaluation of a person's degree of deviation from average or expected performance than to be a valid evaluation of how much the person deviates from pre-trauma performance. Thus neuropsychological testing is likely to be a desirable part of diagnosing any problem with mental health. In diagnosing a possible mental illness, one of the first steps is elimination of the possibility that a drug-related or medical problem causes the behavior of concern. A neuropsychological test is often an important part of the process of elimination. All results of the assessment are subject to strict rules of
confidentiality; you should read the page on confidentiality to find out
exactly what those rules are. The short version is that your private life
is completely confidential unless danger to yourself or others or illegal
behaviors like child abuse are involved. If
you want to read an interview about neuropsychological testing and tumors,
click here.
Last updated 12/19/03 |
||
