Summary: Neuropsychological Assessment

Read the summary and the most important questions on Neuropsychological Assessment

• College 01

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• What are the basic skills that are important for neuropsychological assessments?

  • Determine for which disorders the neuropsychological tests that were introduced can be used
  • interpret the results of a neuropsychological assessment
  • Use the neuropsychological tests that were introduced in differential diagnostics.
  • Integrate and interpret the results of multiple neuropsychological tests. 
  • Critically judge the use of tests with regard to the manual, tests instructor, behaviour of the patient. 

• What is the order and purpose of a neuropsychological assessment?

  1. diagnosis
  2. patient care and planning 
  3. treatment, planning, and remediation 
  4. treatment evaluation 
  5. Research
  6. forensic neuropsychology

• Patient care and planning purpose?

  • Identifying cognitive strengths and weaknesses.
  • Identifying behavioural alterations.
  • Identifying personality characteristics 

• Treatment planning and remediation purpose?

  • What is the most appropriate cognitive rehabilitation treatment?

• Treatment evaluation purpose?

  • Did the treatment have an effect? [was it not caused by something else like time?]

• Forensic neuropsychology purpose?

  • Is used for claims of injury and loss of function
  • In criminal cases 
    - Is there reason to suspect brain dysfunction that contributes to misbehaviour?
    - Is the defendant's mental capacity sufficient to stand trial? 

• What is the diagnostic cycle?

  • The diagnostic process 

  1. Referral question
  2. Medical history.
  3. (Hetero)anamnesis
  4. Neuropsychological tests.
  5. Write report.

  
  
  [always create new hypothesis during the diagnostic cycle based on new knowledge and literature. It is important to be open for different explanations of behaviour]

• What is evidence based medicine?

  Evidence based medicine (EBM) is based on:
  

  • Clinical judgement
  • Relevant scientific evidence 
  • Patients values and preferences  
    

• What are interpretation errors?

  • The tendency to rely strongly on some results and to disregard others
  • Disregarding base rate of disorders 
    - neurologist specialized in alzheimer wil give the alzheimer diagnosis more easily 
  • confirmation bias
    - Looking for results that support the hypotheses 
  • Thinking that subjective complaints are objective disorders. 

• What are the two classical approaches to neuropsychological assessments?

  
  

  • Psychometric approach 
    - Based on the Reitan-Halstead testbattery
  • Behavioural neurological approach 
    - Based on Luria