Psychological Testing

What is Psychological Testing?

Psychological testing is both cognitive and IQ testing. It can help you and your therapist quantify your cognitive emotional strengths and weaknesses to better target your areas of self-improvement and areas in need of support. Testing is not therapy. It is, however, an opportunity to sit down with a licensed psychologist and take standardized measures to determine symptoms of cognitive or personality dysfunction or deficit. It helps you understand yourself more.

We recommend psychological testing for a variety of reasons. Psychological testing is a great tool to determine levels of ADHD and executive functioning.. We can study your attention, focus, motivation, and activity level, among other aspects of ADHD and learning disorders. We can also provide testing to apply for accommodations for college, medical school or law school. Having psychological test results can help get you the resources you need if you struggle with ADHD or a learning disability. Testing is not a guarantee of a diagnosis or accommodation, but if you do have ADHD or a learning disability we will likely be able to identify it through testing.

We also provide psychological testing for personality assessment. Your therapist may have suggested that testing could help determine diagnosis or provide clarity on your emotional experience. You might be wondering about aspects of your personality and if there are ways to optimize or improve your functioning. Personality testing can help to answer some of these questions.

Who do we treat?

At Behr psychology, we provide psychological assessment to individuals 8 years and older. We treat individuals looking for testing to answer questions regarding their cognitive and emotional functioning.  It is important to distinguish psychological testing from a psychiatric evaluation. Psychiatric evaluations are done by psychiatrists. At Behr Psychology, we are a collective of Psychologists and Therapists and therefore we cannot write prescriptions or provide medication. However, psychological testing informs diagnosis and treatment. If appropriate for your diagnosis, we can provide referrals to prescribing psychiatrists and work together to provide you with a holistic treatment. We have a network of sensitive and knowledgeable psychiatrists we trust and can refer you to.

What to expect

When you receive psychological testing you will meet with a psychologist to determine your reasons for seeking testing  and what questions you want to be answered about yourself. You will be presented with a plan and will schedule an in-person day for testing which will take about six hours. It will be scored and interpreted by the psychologist. A report will be written describing findings and recommendations. Finally we will meet to go over your results and provide you with your completed results and report. It is a tool to figure out what the next step for you is.

Myths about Psychological Testing:

Myth: Psychological Testing is the same as therapy.

Fact: Psychological Testing is a completely different service than therapy. Testing provides hard data that can help to clarify diagnoses, symptoms and emotional/cognitive experiences. Testing helps to quantify internal experiences.

Myth: Psychological Testing can get me a prescription for medication.

Fact: At Behr Psychology, we are all Psychologists and Therapists. We do not prescribe medication. However, Psychological Testing can help a psychiatrist better understand what issues you are experiencing and which medications may be the most useful. At the end of testing, we provide you with a report that you can bring to a Psychiatrist as evidence of potential ADHD, Learning Disabilities or emotional distress.

Myth: Psychological testing is only good for kids.

Fact: Psychological testing can be helpful to people of all ages. In fact, many adults request psychological testing when in college or graduate school to apply for accommodations such as extended time on exams. Evidence of a psychological or learning disorder is needed in order to obtain accommodations.

Myth: I can take a test online to tell my IQ.

Fact: Online IQ tests are not the same as the IQ tests conducted by trained and licensed Psychologists. Most online IQ tests are not accurate. The testing we provide at Behr Psychology, is recognized by all professional agencies and schools and can only be conducted by a trained professional.

Good reasons to start therapy

Anxiety

If you are experiencing stress, worry, overwhelm, panic, and are overthinking things, you may be dealing with anxiety. Therapy can be helpful in supporting you to better understand and manage your anxiety.

Depression

Depression can look different for everyone, but some common signs of depression are chronic sadness, lack of motivation, feeling withdrawn, removed, and isolated. Therapy can be helpful in supporting you to better understand and manage your depression.

Relationship Problems

Therapy can be helpful in improving relationships. Interpersonal problems can result from trauma, lack of experience, miscommunication, incompatibility, or life stressors and circumstances. We can help you to improve your relationships through individual or couples therapy.

Work-Life Balance

It can be difficult to juggle your work life with your personal life, and there are many stressors that come into play when trying to find a healthy work-life balance. Therapy can help you to set boundaries and achieve greater balance in your life.

Religion and Culture

Everyone has their own unique experience related to their religion and culture. At Behr Psychology we are sensitive and knowledgeable about many cultures and religions. We can work with you to understand conflicts or values related to religion and culture.

Intersectionality

Race, class, and gender identities often overlap and can be the source of trauma, discrimination or disadvantage. Therapy can help you to process these experiences and your unique identity.

Trauma

Trauma is an emotional response to a threatening event that causes long-term reactions such as flashbacks, unpredictable emotions, dissociative episodes, or physical symptoms. Therapy can be helpful in supporting you to better understand, process, and manage your symptoms of trauma and anxiety.

Sexual Dysfunction

At Behr Psychology we treat a range of sexual disorders including erectile dysfunction, low libido, premature ejaculation, vaginismus, porn addiction, sex addiction and pain with sex. Sexual health can be related to any of these issues in addition to kink and BDSM. Therapy can be helpful in supporting you to better understand, process, and manage issues and topics related to sex and sexual health.

Life Transitions

We can help support you through life transitions that can create stress and anxiety in your life. This can include moving, changing jobs, beginning and finishing school, starting a family, caretaking responsibilities, marriage, and grief and loss. Therapy can help provide a safe space for you to process your emotions and get the support you need.

Self-Esteem

Self-esteem and self-love are at the core of many other emotional functions. If you are struggling with self esteem you might be dealing with body image, an eating disorder, depression, anxiety, or self-confidence. Therapy can help you to build your self-esteem and confidence while reducing shame and guilt.

Assertiveness

Many people struggle with asserting themselves in the workplace and in relationships. Confidence, communication, and strategy are key when working on assertiveness. Therapy can help to support your abilities to assert yourself in a variety of settings.

Self-Exploration

Self-exploration in therapy is useful for people who want to learn more about themselves but may not know where to start. You may be interested in therapy but are not sure what you really want to talk about. That is ok. You don’t need to know where to start to begin exploring.