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Two powerful new tests developed by psychologists at Harvard University show great promise in predicting patients’ risk of attempting suicide. The work may help clinicians overcome their reliance on self-reporting by at-risk individuals, information that often proves misleading when suicidal patients wish to hide their intentions. Both new tests are easily administered within minutes on a computer, giving quick insight into how patients are thinking about suicide, as well as their propensity to attempt suicide in the near future.
The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is a brief psychological screening instrument designed to measure symptoms of depression in primary care settings. Like the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory, Big Five Inventory, and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale previously reviewed, the PHQ-9 is available to healthcare providers completely free of charge. Pfizer Inc., the legal copyright holder, explicitly states that “no permission [is] required to reproduce, translate, display or distribute [the PHQ-9].” Check the end of this report to download the PHQ-9.
On June 3, a six-man international crew will enter an isolation chamber in Moscow for a simulated 520-day Mars mission conducted by the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation – Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The crew has a mission schedule full of more than 90 experiments and [...]
PsychTests AIM Inc., one of the web’s foremost source of personality assessments, released their Gender Roles Test in February 2010, with a separate version for men and women. According to their statistical results, while people are slowly adopting more modern views as to men and women’s place in the world, there are still some traditions [...]
A self-administered test to screen for early dementia could help speed the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of memory disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease. It could also provide health care providers and caregivers an earlier indication of life-changing events that could lie ahead. The handwritten self-assessment, which can take less than 15 minutes to complete, is a [...]
A new study finds promising evidence that the older brain’s weakened ability to filter out irrelevant information may actually give older adults a memory advantage over their younger counterparts. A long line of research has already shown that aging is associated with a decreased ability to tune out irrelevant information. Now scientists at Baycrest’s world-renowned [...]
Part 1 of this 2 part series provided a general overview of psychologists’ roles in pre-implant evaluations, as well as explained the goals, objectives, and common issues encountered in these biopsychosocial assessments. Part 2 details the results from a follow-up study of patients who completed a pre-implant psychological evaluation and subsequently received a surgically implanted [...]
Pain patients who are candidates for surgical implants – whether a spinal cord stimulator or intrathecal pump – suffer chronic moderate to severe pain and have not benefited from conservative or less-invasive treatment methods which include, but are not limited to, oral medications including opioids, physical therapy, injections, psychological therapy, holistic treatments acupuncture, massage, cranial [...]
The Center for Epidemiologic Studies publishes an excellent free psychological screening instrument for major depression called the The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). The CES-D serves a similar purpose as the ever popular Beck Depression Inventory-II, but with greater emphasis on the affective components of depression. The cost of this instrument ($0) makes it an attractive option to costly copyrighted depression scales. The CES-D is available in the public domain so check the end of this review to download the Stanford edition of the CES-D.
The excellent response to BMED Report’s recent review of The Big Five Inventory came as a pleasant surprise. In light of the intense reader interest, other quality psychological assessment/screening instruments that are freely available will receive occasional reviews heretofore. Healthcare practitioners, like most everyone, look for ways to save money yet to maintain the highest quality service in today’s challenging marketplace. And the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) fills this role quite nicely. Check the end of this review for links to download the PSQI and its scoring program.
The United States Army announced its plans to initiate psychological testing with all active duty, national guard, and reserve soldiers in an effort to identify those with possible mental health issues, as well as to strengthen psychological functioning among our brave warriors. A newly developed 170-item test that appears to have a biopsychosocial approach to [...]
The Big Five Inventory (BFI), which is based on the classic “big five” dimensions of personality, was released into the public domain. All healthcare professionals may now use the BFI for free, and the author offers a free online scoring program. Oliver P. John, Ph.D. and V. Benet-Martinez developed the BFI in 1998, and in case you forgot, the big five consist of Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Extroversion, and Intellect or Openness. Emotional Stability was previously referred to as “neuroticism.” Check the end of this report for a link to download the PDF version, as well links to the online version and scoring program.
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