Synopses & Reviews
Review
"This text is an excellent addition to a graduate course in personality assessment. Its unique contribution is Beutler's sophisticated thinking about dimensions of treatment selection, but he also addresses the issues involved in designing appropriate assessments and integrating the findings. Outstanding chapters are included on the major adult assessment instruments in use today." --Tony Cellucci, Ph.D., Francis Marin University, Dept of Psychology, Course: PSY631, Assessment II
"I am using this book for my graduate courses in assessment and diagnosis. The extended case examples give my students a real feel for what clinical practice is actually like. Dr. Beutler stands as the leader in the field. His book is the only text I know of that's oriented to treatment planning and that contains guidelines for integrating different sources of information and assessment tools, such as the Rorschach, MMPI-2, and interview data, into a single assessment report." --Kevin L. Moreland, Ph.D., Dept. of Psychology, Fordham University
"Drs. Beutler and Berren have collated a valuable set of chapters, written by recognized experts in their respective areas, to illustrate the integration of psychological assessment procedures. Their emphases on assessment as a consultative, rather than a technical function, is an important distinction that all too often is overlooked in this field. Their specific suggestions on how to organize and integrate information from a variety of sources is important for all clinicians, and particularly for graduate students who are learning these skills. Finally, their emphasis on the necessity for a consistent conceptual scheme for the integration of psychological assessment procedures is very valuable." --Roger L. Greene, Ph.D., Professor, Chair and Director of Clinical Training, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
"It is a truism among those concerned with the assessment of persons that one needs to gather data from disparate sources and then integrate that information in order to arrive at an accurate description of the target. It is not commonplace, however, that one has any specific guidelines on how to bring this about. The collection of papers edited by Beutler and Berren provides such a map for those involved with clinical assessment. Direction is provided on the types of data needed, the manner in which these might be brought together, and the ways in which the final formulations can be used to design treatment plans for individual cases. There is even a model for presenting the integrated picture in a clinical report. Anyone involved with clinical evaluations will find the papers and the overall framework for integration useful. Those teaching graduate assessment courses in clinical and counseling programs will find them especially valuable." --John S. Gillis, Ph.D., Oregon State University
"In providing their incisive coverage of the key issues associated with personality assessment, the authors deal with not only the basic psychometric underpinnings of assessment procedures, but also the core clinical and conceptual issues that are at the very heart of any attempt at clinical assessment. Richly illustrated with numerous case examples, this volume depicts how the practicing clinician can select an assessment battery and integrate the findings into a comprehensive formulation having diagnostic and therapeutic implications." --Marvin R. Goldfried, Ph.D., SUNY at Stony Brook
"Provides excellent coverage of an integrative approach to assessment. This book could be one of the major texts for personality assessment." --Barry Ritzler, Ph.D., Long Island University
Synopsis
This unique volume, widely adopted for text use, presents an integrative approach to the process of personality assessment. The book addresses such issues as:
What questions should a personality assessment address?
What types of information are necessary to complete an assessment?
What instruments are needed to answer the questions?
How can the data be integrated and understood once various types have been collected?
How can the integrated assessment be best utilized in treatment planning?
While maintaining the standardized administration methods necessary for using test norms and comparing results across subjects, the approach described in this text shows how to construct a "moving picture" that takes into account the complexities of individual personalities and provides insights that will be invaluable in deriving effective treatment strategies.
About the Author
Larry E. Beutler, Ph.D., Professor and Director of the Counseling/ Clinical/ School Psychology Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology. In the past, he has served as Editor of the
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology and international President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. A fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the International Fellowship of Eclectic Psychotherapists, he is currently President-elect of the Division of Psychotherapy of the American Psychological Association. The author of approximately 200 scientific papers and chapters, he is the author, editor, or coauthor of ten books on psychotherapy and psychopathology.
Michael R. Berren, Ph.D., has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Arizona Center for Clinical Management in Tucson, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona, and as Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona School of Medicine. Dr. Berren's career has revolved primarily around the evaluation and treatment of individuals with serious mental illnesses.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction to Psychological Assessment, Beutler and Rosner
2. Integrating and Communicating Findings, Beutler
3. Issues in Selecting an Assessment Battery, Beutler
4. The Clinical Interview, Beutler
5. The Assessment of Cognitive Functioning and the WAIS-R, Zetzer and Beutler
6. The Rorschach, Hurt, Reznikoff, and Clarkin
7. Interpretation of the MMPI-2, Butcher
8. Putting Humpty Dumpty Together Again: Using the MCMI in Psychological Assessment, Millon and Davis
9. Integrating Treatment Recommendations, Gaw and Beutler
10. Integrative Assessment: A Workbook, Corbishley and Yost