Where is the Psychological Test Battery? - Cross-Examining Psych Doctors, Tip #107

Objective psychological test data is clearly needed in medical-legal psych reports where the first responsibility of the examiner in either psychology or psychiatry is determining the credibility of the patient's complaints and clinical presentation.  In this regard, the principal method for assessing that credibility is an objective psychological test battery containing such instruments as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Cattell Sixteen Personality Factor Test (16PF) that are capable of generating test scores providing information both about the patient's credibility and any possible psychopathology.  Typically, objective psychological test scores are the only information collected by an examiner that is open to public inspection and can be presented to the court in an objective and generally numerical fashion.  Therefore, when you come across a psych report and find that the doctor declined to give any psychological tests, not only is that a clear failure by the doctor to assess the patient’s credibility, but they should be questioned about that substantial flaw on cross-examination.