Introduction to Self-Report Tools in Psychological Evaluation

The modern world can often be a stressful place, one that can give rise to a whole host of mental health struggles—and with the rise of the internet and social media, people are more open about their mental health and the labels that accompany it than ever before. Odds are, you or someone you know has felt depressed, anxious, or found it difficult to focus in the midst of modern life. And there’s certainly no shortage of people, both in person and online, who identify themselves as ‘depressed,’ ‘anxious,’ or ‘having ADHD.’

To put some numbers to this, one source states that,

The prevalence of anxiety, particularly among college students, is concerning; a 2019 survey from the American College Health Association showed that 66.4% reported feeling 'overwhelming anxiety' at least once during the academic year. Further, almost 10% of college students are being or have been treated for depression, and mental illness is the leading cause of disability worldwide. (Hasan)

With ever inflating figures such as these, it seems as though there may not be enough clinical professionals available to treat everyone. As such, people frequently turn to accessible self-reporting tools (often found online), self-diagnosis, or social media to find answers.

But, is self-reporting mental health symptoms and adopting the label basically the same thing as a formal diagnosis? Or not? It can be difficult to pick apart information from misinformation and find the truth, and not everyone has the time or the resources to see a therapist each time something feels a little off. Fortunately, there are some tools out there that can help quantify and make sense of one’s mental health struggles - and unlike the Facebook personality quizzes of yore, these tools are backed by real science. In our future posts, we’ll be talking about the Beck Depression Inventory, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Index, the Adult ADHD Rating Scale, the Wender Utah Rating Scale, and the impact of social media on mental health and online self-diagnosing. Hopefully we’ll be able to demonstrate that self-reporting and self-diagnosis using reputable tools can be helpful and insightful, but isn’t usually a replacement for a formal diagnosis from a credentialed therapist or other mental health professional.

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