Sections
The Process of Assessment and Diagnosis: Introduction | Comparison of Adult Assessment With Child Assessment | Data Collection | Beginning the Process | The Parent Interview | Preparation of the Child for the Interview | Other Sources of Data | Family Assessment | Formulation | Treatment Planning | Interpretative or Feedback Interview | Summary Points | References
Excerpt
The purpose of a psychiatric evaluation is to
answer several fundamental questions: Does this child or adolescent
have one or more psychiatric disorders? If the answer is yes, the
next question confronting the clinician is, What is/are
the disorder(s)? (Do the symptoms and their patterns fit a known
recognizable clinical syndrome or diagnosis?) The next question
is, How does this come to be? (What are the factors—biological,
psychological, and social—that have influenced this child
or adolescent and his family to be in their current state and present
for evaluation?) The final fundamental question for the evaluation
is, What is the recommended treatment (if any)?