Psychological Assessment Wrong

[Nessa7]

I got a psychological assessment done this summer. It was done in two parts. The first part was filling out very comprehensive paperwork about my education, work experience, childhood, family history, symptoms, medical history, and everything else. I then went over the information twice with two guys that worked there. They probably told me their jobs, but I don't remember the specifics very well. I do remember that one of them was not a mental health professional, and I had a hard time explaining things to him. I came back a month later to do a few assess!ents: read some words out loud, depression scale, anxiety scale, massive multiple choice thing, draw a picture of a man and woman, and complete some sentences.

I was freaking out the whole time and it was horrible.

I got the results today. The also have sent copies to my disability lawyer and my psychiatrist. My therapist will also be getting a copy next week. The stuff from the first day is wrong. I believe that I might have told them these things, but it is full of errors. It's factual stuff, like when I graduated from college and who raised me. It even seems to say that I'm still living with my father, and I haven't for almost ten years. The stuff about my mental health and how I feel about it is pretty much okay. There are a few points that I don't think I was paraphrased very well because it seemed like the person I was talking to did not understand things like the difference between compulsive skin picking and self-harm or that I can think I dissociate without having a dissociative disorder. To me, it makes me sound like a bit of a hypochondriac, but I don't know if I'm being paranoid about that part of this.

I'm not sure what to do.

 

[blackemerald1]

How did the factual stuff get reported incorrectly? Did they take information & transcribe it wrongly?

I suppose you could contact them & let them know. Depends on who the assessors are.

What is the purpose of this assessment? If it's for legal or financial purposes it might be worth correcting the records.

Maybe email your lawyer with the main factual errors?

I really think it's difficult to read your own mental health reports & assessment so please don't worry about sounding like a hypochondriac bc I think most ppl do sound just like that.

Remember it's your whole life boiled down to a very brief summary so it usually does sound very unbalanced.

 

[Missycat]

It is hard to read about yourself. Maybe read through it again with your therapist and then are you able to contact them? If they have factual info wrong then they may be able to correct it !?

 

[Nessa7]

How did the factual stuff get reported incorrectly? Did they take information & transcribe it wrongly?

I'm not sure. I think it's partially that their system isn't great. Everything from those interviews went onto a few very messy pieces of paper. There's stuff in quotations as me saying it that I'm pretty sure was actually stuff the first guy that interviewed me said.

The interviews also happened at a time that I was doing very badly, and the whole process made me feel very overwhelmed. They do have in the report that I was vague about my personal history. It's definitely possible that I also said some things that didn't make sense but was confident enough when I said it that they didn't question it. I have a bad habit of doing that.

Also, we were both distracted by stuff going on outside during the beginning part of the interview. That might have been part of it.

What is the purpose of this assessment? If it's for legal or financial purposes it might be worth correcting the records.

Both. As far as that goes, it doesn't seem like the best idea for it to say that I live with people that I don't.

It is hard to read about yourself. Maybe read through it again with your therapist and then are you able to contact them? If they have factual info wrong then they may be able to correct it !?

That's a good idea. I think part of the reason I felt so unsure about what to do is that I know there's no way of getting in touch with my lawyer or the place that did the assessment for several days. This month's case manager appointment is this week. We could go through it again there. My lawyer is also way more likely to return his calls. (I like my lawyer, but her receptionist situation is a bit of a mess.)

I really think it's difficult to read your own mental health reports & assessment so please don't worry about sounding like a hypochondriac bc I think most ppl do sound just like that.

Remember it's your whole life boiled down to a very brief summary so it usually does sound very unbalanced.

There was a ton of stuff about being preoccupied with physical health symptoms. With a little bit of distance, I can realize that the people that will get this that I interact with regularly are going to know that my life at that time was revolving around scheduling doctors appointments and tests. They'll have context that the people that did the assessments didn't have.

 

[Friday]

I'm not sure what to do.

I’d run through it with your therapist.

Sometimes medicalese reads wrong/weird, but actually makes sense in context... but other times you’re just dealing with flat out incompetence & idiocy. Your T should be able to go through the entire thing with you, line by line, & help you make/file the appropriate corrections. PLUS help you not lose your ever lovin’ mind whilst attempting to do so.

 

[Nessa7]

I want to keep this updated for anyone that comes looking for a thread like this later.

I have some good news. Both my therapist and psychiatrist thought it was weird when they got it. It was a relief, especially because I have been seeing this psychiatrist for a really short amount of time. Also, it has kept me from second-guessing myself as much, which is something that I was struggling with.

I was able to get an appointment to see my lawyer to talk about this and also update her on some other stuff. I chose a lawyer that my therapist knew and had worked with in the past so that I could feel comfortable having them talk and work together on things, and this situation has been the thing that makes me glad that I made that decision.