Week 13 Blog

I enjoyed this week's reading about Clinical Assessment. I have not had any experience in this area of expertise, but found the different assessments and information about the DSM-IV-TR very interesting. The first thing that caught me off guard was the statistic that "an estimated 26.2% of Americans of ages 18 and older suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.." (Drummond & Jones, 2010, p. 277). Maybe that number shouldn't have surprised me but it did. It went on to say that around 20% of children and adolescents have mental disorders. That means in a school of 500 students, you could potentially have 100 students with mental disorders. I know that many disorders range from mild to severe and many are often diagnosed, but those numbers struck a chord in me.

While I do not have much experience in this area I as mentioned before, I did grow up with an Aunt who is a psychiatrist. When I was younger I used to love to hear stories about her patients (we lived in different cities and she never used names). I remember thinking how I couldn't imagine talking to some of these people who were so "crazy" (that is the word I thought of as a kid). I also remember her talking sadly about a few patients of hers who had committed suicide. I also couldn't imagine being in such a state that I would consider suicide an option. I respect the work my now retired Aunt did over the years and I have heard from others that she was quite respected in the city where she practiced. She still is someone I love to call and chat with and when my Mom died she was the faithful relative who called me every few weeks that first year to check in with me. I will always remember that act of caring and kindness.

I appreciated the information on the various assessments, especially the MSE or Mental Status Exam. The list of several general categories of MSEs (p.285) is a great checklist of sorts. I also like that there is a MMSE (Mini Mental Status Examination). The Suicide Risk Factor list was also helpful to read through and will be a good reference for the future. I also appreciated the section on "Cultural Considerations in Clinical Assessment" as that is something we need to keep in the forefront of our minds when working with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. "Seek cultural understanding" (p. 302) is a line that resonated with me and I hope to remember as I work with my own clients in the near future.



Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals. (7th ed.). Upper
       Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.