Has Anyone Done This?

Last week the psychologist who works with my pdoc and my therapist gave me a psych test. It was about 400 questions and I guess the purpose of the test is to refine a diagnosis. I haven't received the results yet; I'm starting to feel anxious about it.

Has anyone here taken a test like that? If so, what did you find out?

I took the mmpi which is over 500 questions it basically indicated I was depressed. It had many things built into it my psychiatrist was impressed that the lie detector was so low meaning it was reliable. I don’t remember much about it except that it indicated the lack of any personality disorder which I think they were screening for. Way back in the 80’s when I was first diagnosed I had a battery of tests. The outcome was weird, I was stable but very very depressed. My reaction to antidepressants puzzled them but later on that was used to label me bipolar 1.

My therapist administers testing that sounds similar. He sends the results away so it takes a little while to get the results back. I've never done them so I don't know how long but that might be why you haven't gotten the results yet. I know he told me that there was a back-up for some time after the pandemic closed everything.

Yes I took the mmpi test when I was in the hospital and it came back bipolar 1 and PTSD. I knew I was bipolar since I was 25, but I didn't want to give up my hypos. They were awesome! But once I went into that mania and psychosis in 2011, I for sure compiled with meds. I never want that to happen again.

Good luck on your test.

It's hard enough with a changing diagnosis, new pdoc and taking medication to call into question someone's dx. I've been told I'm BPD but all drs and therapists have said no. It's a problem because they're different treatment.

Beth I've gone through hours of testing but never 400+ questions. I didn't get proper dx for over 16 years and the medication to keep me out of crisis. I hope you find out what you need to to help stabilizes things.

I had one past psychologist give me an extremely long test during my first week with her. Maybe 500 questions. I suppose it could have been used for diagnosis assistance purposes, but I think she just wanted to know where I was at at that particular time, mood-wise and/or wanted to have a confirmed record in her files that supported the diagnosis I stated I had. There was no change to my diagnosis in the end. I do remember asking her if I could write notes next to my multiple choice answers since if you're not "currently manic" or "currently having sleep issues" that those are represented in some way. Truth is, sometimes such tests have poorly worded questions or ones that could form a misrepresentation.

I had a couple other psychologists who had mini tests I was to take every time I would see them. Just before the session while I waited in the waiting room. Again, I saw them more as helping them know how I was that day/week.

I've switched therapists often these past 15 years. I often brought copies of hospital records when starting with someone new. It is, indeed, frustrating when a new therapist or psychiatrist wants to start from scratch with diagnosis. I do know that sometimes diagnoses can change or be discovered, but after so many years it becomes less likely that it should.

There are only a few psychological tests that are around 400 or more questions, and as others have pointed out, one common one is called the MMPI. You can learn more about it here:

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - Wikipedia

Generally these tests give a lot more insight into a person's personality and their internal psychological makeup than a simple diagnosis. While they can certainly aid in diagnosing, that's usually not their primary purpose.

I agree, the MMPI is pretty much the only one I can think of that's so long.

I must say I didn't like that test at all. It didn't yield any surprising results for me, but I don't like the "lie detector" questions that they have in there, because in complex situations you can show up as being untruthful when you're not. I don't think it's appropriate to have that lack of trust in a therapeutic setting. Moreover, the very fact that I know they'll be checking my answers for "consistency" makes me nervous about taking the test because I don't want to show up as a "liar" (even though I'm not), and so that in itself makes it harder for me to answer the questions without overthinking it.

I also agree with Soupe that a lot of psychological tests have poorly worded questions, or questions that are basically taken verbatim from the symptoms of some DSM diagnosis, without any room for nuance. It happens often that there are questions in there that I can't answer with "agree" or "disagree", or even on a five-point scale, because the real answer is, it depends on something that's not reflected in the question. The real world is not as clear-cut as those questions. And I don't like knowing that people are going to draw all sorts of conclusions about me based on some test, without giving me the opportunity to clarify what I mean by my answers. I much prefer talking to a human where I can actually explain things the way I mean them. I think that's the only proper usage of such tests: to start a discussion. Nothing more. I hope that's how it will be used for you.

Oh another thing about all the tests I took back in the day, my doctor explained they were being used to rule out certain diagnosis. Back then they didn’t diagnose so quick. I was given a long list of things my pdoc wanted to rule out. I suspect that she already had a tentative diagnosis but before putting it on my records she wanted to be on firm ground. At first they tentatively said major depression but I hung on to that one. For years after they said bipolar I was insisting on major depression partly cause they were still calling it manic depression and to my ear that sounded awful. In my early years in the system my hospital papers had tons of abbreviations and numbers that they don’t use now, maybe cause hospitalization is so brief now?

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Originally Posted by Miguel'smom It's hard enough with a changing diagnosis, new pdoc and taking medication to call into question someone's dx. I've been told I'm BPD but all drs and therapists have said no. It's a problem because they're different treatment. Beth I've gone through hours of testing but never 400+ questions. I didn't get proper dx for over 16 years and the medication to keep me out of crisis. I hope you find out what you need to to help stabilizes things.

Thank you, Mm - exactly how I feel! I was pretty stable and now my new pdoc is questioning everything my format pdoc did. I feel like the rug has been pulled out from under my feet, and that causes major anxiety.

I've gotten a lot of direction from this thread. Thank you, Nammu, Rainbow, Mm, rose, Soupe, Doc John, FluffyD! I very much appreciate your input.

I never did but my old therapist at my last place would talk about doing testing. This was before telehealth. I didn’t really get the purpose of doing testing. My new therapist is confused about my bipolar diagnosis so she may suggest testing. I don’t know. I did ED testing once or twice though.

I’ve done a few IQ tests in grade school and high school. I had an IEP that required IQ testing every 3 years.

Basically it was just the same as usual each time. High scores in reading and reading fluency and low scores in math.

I'm sorry your going through this. If it doesn't bring you more stability think about changing pdocs when you can. Also continue to talk here and to your T about how it makes you feel. Whatever dx they give you your still part of the BP forum. I've had most pdocs come in and change everything on me. Therapists too. One calls what I have paranoia another calls anxiety. It takes me a while to adjust to new pdocs and be honest with them. My current one puts a lot of faith in the hospital when I don't. I've even had other Dx.'s tacked on.

At one time (about a year ago) I was BP2, psychosis, ptsd, general anxiety, and who know what else. During that time I had an hard time with T's understanding me because they wanted me to just get over my ****. I had one say I need a job when I could hardly make it to therapy. I went through several T's. Now I have a more concrete "serious" dx. My T's are much more understanding. All that to say I hope you get the dx you need to get the support you need.

I have been offered this test numerous time. I have chosen not to do. It truly would stress me out and its not going to change much of anything in my life and how I am managing my laundry list of diagnosis.

I hope you get your results soon

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Originally Posted by Miguel'smom I'm sorry your going through this. If it doesn't bring you more stability think about changing pdocs when you can. Also continue to talk here and to your T about how it makes you feel. Whatever dx they give you your still part of the BP forum. I've had most pdocs come in and change everything on me. Therapists too. One calls what I have paranoia another calls anxiety. It takes me a while to adjust to new pdocs and be honest with them. My current one puts a lot of faith in the hospital when I don't. I've even had other Dx.'s tacked on. At one time (about a year ago) I was BP2, psychosis, ptsd, general anxiety, and who know what else. During that time I had an hard time with T's understanding me because they wanted me to just get over my ****. I had one say I need a job when I could hardly make it to therapy. I went through several T's. Now I have a more concrete "serious" dx. My T's are much more understanding. All that to say I hope you get the dx you need to get the support you need.

Thank you so much Mm. What you've said makes so much sense to me.