Collaborative / Therapeutic Assessment: A Casebook and Guide

466 Pages·2012·2.646 MB·English

by  Stephen E. Finn, Constance T. Fischer, Leonard Handler

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Collaborative/
Therapeutic
Assessment
(cid:2)
A Casebook and Guide
Edited by
Stephen E. Finn
Constance T. Fischer
and
Leonard Handler
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data:
Collaborative/therapeutic assessment / edited by Stephen E. Finn,
Constance T. Fischer, and Leonard Handler.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978–0–470–55135–6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978–1–118–16866–0 (ebk)
ISBN 978–1–118–16864–6 (ebk)
ISBN 978–1–118–16865–3 (ebk)
I. Finn, Stephen E., 1956– II. Fischer, Constance T., 1938– III. Handler, Leonard, 1936–
[DNLM: 1. Psychological Tests. 2. Personality Assessment. 3. Psychotherapy—methods. WM 145]
LC classifi cation not assigned
616.89'075—dc23
2011029119
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Preface vii
About the Contributors xix
1 Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment: Basic Concepts,
History, and Research 1
Stephen E. Finn, Constance T. Fischer, and Leonard Handler
PART I: Assessments of Individual Adults
2 Therapeutic Assessment of a Dissociating Client:
Learning Internal Navigation 27
Judith Armstrong
3 Therapeutic Assessment of Depression:
Love’s Labors Lost? 47
Marc J. Diener, Mark J. Hilsenroth, Thomas D. Cromer,
Frank P. Pesale, and Jenelle Slavin-Mulford
4 Collaboration in Neuropsychological Assessment:
Metaphor as Intervention With a Suicidal Adult 69
Diane H. Engelman and J. B. Allyn
5 Collaboration Throughout the Assessment:
A Young Man in Transition 93
Constance T. Fischer
6 Therapeutic Assessment for a Treatment in
Crisis Following Multiple Suicide Attempts 113
J. Christopher Fowler
iii
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iv Contents
7 Using Therapeutic Assessment to Explore Emotional
Constriction: A Creative Professional in Crisis 133
Jan H. Kamphuis and Hilde de Saeger
8 Therapeutic Assessment Involving Multiple Life Issues:
Coming to Terms With Problems of Health, Culture, and
Learning 157
Hale Martin and Erin Jacklin
9 Collaborative Assessment for Psychotherapy: Witnessing
A Woman’s Reawakening 179
Patrick J. McElfresh
10 T herapeutic Assessment of Severe Abuse: A Woman
Living With Her Past 199
Carol Groves Overton
PART II: Assessments of Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults
11 T herapeutic Assessment of an Adolescent: An Adopted
Teenager Comes to Feel Understood 225
Marita Frackowiak
12 C ollaborative Storytelling With Children: An Unruly
Six- Year- Old Boy 243
Leonard Handler
13 R orschach- Based Psychotherapy: Collaboration
With a Suicidal Young Woman 269
Noriko Nakamura
14 C ollaborative Assessment of a Child in Foster Care:
New Understanding of Bad Behavior 291
Caroline Purves
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Contents v
15 T herapeutic Assessment With a 10- Year- Old Boy
and His Parents: The Pain Under the Disrespect 311
Deborah J. Tharinger, Melissa E. Fisher, and Bradley Gerber
16 C ollaborative Assessment on an Adolescent Psychiatric
Ward: A Psychotic Teenage Girl 335
Heikki Toivakka
PART III: Special Applications
17 T herapeutic Assessment Alternative to Custody
Evaluation: An Adolescent Whose Parents Could
Not Stop Fighting 357
F. Barton Evans
18 T herapeutic Assessment With a Couple in Crisis:
Undoing Problematic Projective Identification via
the Consensus Rorschach 379
Stephen E. Finn
19 Case Studies in Collaborative Neuropsychology: A Man With
Brain Injury and a Child With Learning Problems 401
Tad T. Gorske and Steven R. Smith
Afterword: Forward! 421
Constance T. Fischer, Leonard Handler, and Stephen E. Finn
Author Index 427
Subject Index 430
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Preface
Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment (C/TA) is the term we use in
this book to refer to multiple closely related approaches to psycholog-
ical testing that are variously called individualized assessment, Collaborative
Assessment, therapeutic assessment (lowercase), Therapeutic Assessment
(uppercase), Therapeutic Model of Assessment, Collaborative Therapeutic
Neuropsychological Assessment, Rorschach- based psychotherapy, pro-
jective counseling, and dynamic assessment. We will defi ne and draw
distinctions among many of these approaches in Chapter 1 and give a
brief history of the fi eld. We will also review research about these m ethods,
which continues to accrue at a rapid pace. The remainder of the book
consists of 18 case examples of C/TA from practitioners (including us) in
four different countries. The chapters are divided into three sections: Part I
concerns C/TA with adult individual clients; cases in Part II illustrate
C/TA with children, adolescents, and young adults; and Part III contains
cases illustrating special topics in C/TA, such as Collaborative Therapeutic
Neuropsychological Assessment (CTNA), therapeutic assessment in a
child- custody situation, and Therapeutic Assessment of couples. Within
each section, the chapters are arranged alphabetically by the fi rst author’s
last name. In a fi nal chapter we discuss commonalities among the cases
and make concluding comments.
The clients written about in this book include adults, children, ado-
lescents, couples, and families with many different types of backgrounds
and concerns. All clients’ names and identifying information have
been greatly altered to protect their privacy. The authors/practitioners
include longstanding colleagues and young professionals, some of whom
were former students of ours. All assessors necessarily adapted the basic
concepts and practices of C/TA to their different settings, clients, and
theoretical backgrounds. Readers will readily see that there is no single
vii
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viii Preface
way to undertake C/TA, and that they already engage in various of these
practices, and can easily tailor others for their own use.
This case study project was designed as a teaching text, and every
chapter contains clearly labeled Teaching Points throughout its pages.
Different authors have located these teaching points in different ways.
We believe these points will be useful to graduate students and seasoned
professionals alike. As we edited one another’s and our contributors’
work, we found ourselves continuing to learn about the ways in which
creative, respectful, and well- trained professionals can use psychological
tests to help clients and important people in their lives achieve new
ways of thinking and being in the world.
Although the terminology used varies, all of the approaches repre-
sented in this book share the notion that psychological assessment is
a serious enterprise, involving a special kind of professional relationship,
and that it has the power to illuminate and affect people’s lives. As we
read through these chapters, we found ourselves moved and inspired,
and we experienced a range of emotions: awe, sadness, excitement,
hope, envy, and gratitude. Our hope is that you will fi nd these accounts
equally moving, and that if you do, you will help spread the word about
the potential therapeutic power of psychological assessment.
OUR PERSONAL CONTEXTS FOR THIS BOOK
We strongly believe that all behavior occurs within specifi c meaning-
ful contexts. Therefore, we decided it would be responsible and most
likely meaningful to readers to give information at the beginning of
this book about our personal contexts and how they shaped us. We now
share three fi rst-p erson accounts of our involvement with Collaborative/
Therapeutic Assessment.
Connie Fischer
Prelude to entering graduate school in psychology
I majored in political science and minored in philosophy at the
University of Oklahoma, where I also took a social psychology course
from Muzafer Sherif, whose research took place in everyday life settings.
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