Appreciating Layers & Intersections of Personality Attachment, Culture, and Trauma through a Therapeutic Assessment

In this session Dr. Kate Thomas will discuss a Therapeutic Assessment (TA) she did with Priyanka, a senior at the University of Texas who was suddenly failing classes and struggling with her post-college transition. We will focus particularly on two of her questions: 1) Why can’t I care about myself? and 2) Can we confirm the [psychiatrist’s] diagnosis of dependent and narcissistic personality disorders? Dr. Thomas will first describe test data that answered those questions and TA interventions that helped her and Priyanka create a healing roadmap forward. Then, Dr. Raja David and Dr. Caroline Lee will join Dr. Thomas to discuss intersections between Priyanka’s cultures and the assessment process and results. They will address, but not presume to definitively answer, questions like: To what extent was Priyanka’s being made to spend Saturdays doing her father’s made-up math homework a part of her cultural and/or a part of her attachment trauma? 

Presenter: Dr. Kate Thomas

Discussants: Dr. Raja David & Dr. Caroline Lee

Learning Objectives: 

1. Participants will be able to define Therapeutic Assessment (TA) and differentiate it from traditional psychological assessment. 
2. Participants will be able to list at least three cultural/individual difference factors that can influence the assessment process and results. 
3. Participants will be able to describe the core components of the Alternate Model of Personality Disorders and how to apply this model to client test data.

The Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. SPA maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Society for Personality Assessment is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0218.