Understanding Mental Health: Exploring Mental Disorder Tests

Understanding Mental Health: Exploring Mental Disorder Tests

Mental Disorder Test

Just like the body, the mind can also be described as either in good or bad shape. Someone with a mental disorder is considered to have a mental health issue. When a person has a mental illness, how he or she thinks hampers his or her normal functioning. However, the problem with mental conditions is that it is oftentimes difficult to identify, comprehend, and treat. Unlike the physical body, it takes a while before symptoms of mental illness explicitly appear. Because of this, many forms of mental disorder tests have been developed and used to fully and deeply assess a person’s psychological condition.

IQ Testing for Mental Health

One of the ways used to easily determine the existence of a mental disorder is through testing an individual’s intelligence quotient or what is popularly known as IQ. In this test, a person or group is given a set of questions with specific correct answers. To determine their level of intelligence, the test scores are totaled and compared to a specific standard. Qualitatively, an IQ test is a mental disorder test categorized according to poor, average, high, or superior IQ.

A person’s mental health also consists of his or her attitudes. Thus, an attitude test is one type of mental disorder test to identify a person’s preferences and attitudes towards other people and certain situations. A neuropsychological assessment is another type of mental disorder test used to find out the effect of damage on a specific part of the brain. It is usually employed after brain injuries caused by accidents or illness.

Exploring Personality

Another type of mental disorder test is a personality test, which may be the most interesting of all. There are many varieties to this test and each has the goal of explaining the different facets of an individual’s personality. Despite its many forms, it is usually categorized into two. One is objective or self-report measures. The second is projective or free response measures.

Mental Health Testing

Any of these tests can determine the existence of a mental problem. However, using a single test alone is not enough to come up with a comprehensive diagnosis of an individual’s issue about his or her mental health. Because of this, professional psychological testing most often requires the use of multiple tests to fully understand the person’s condition. This is also more helpful because symptoms related to psychological deficiencies are not isolated. Mental disorders appear as a cause of either one or all of the factors relating to cognition, attitude, brain function, and personality.