Hawthorn Clinic offers assessments of personality, mood and behaviour. Assessments often include a combination of interview, observation and psychometric testing.

Psychological Assessment

Psychological assessments are used to provide a formulation and understanding of an individual's problems and difficulties. A formulation is a theoretically-based explanation of the information obtained from a clinical assessment. Psychological assessments offer hypotheses about the causes and nature of the presenting problems. As such, assessments can be used to either inform further treatment (e.g. cognitive-behavioural therapy, cognitive analytic therapy, group psychotherapy) or to provide recommendations.

Assessments may also be used to inform legal care proceedings by providing comprehensive psychological profiles of parents and an assessment of the psychological/emotional needs of the child.

Neuropsychological Assessment

Neuropsychological assessments are used to assess the cognitive, emotional and behavioural consequences of brain injury or neurological disease. Such disease and injury can include traumatic brain injury (e.g. injuries from road traffic accidents, falls, physical assault) and non-traumatic brain injuries (e.g. stroke, tumours, infectious diseases), as well as progressive neurological conditions (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease).

Neuropsychological assessment is carried out in order to understand the pattern of cognitive strengths and difficulties a person suffering from brain injury may have, to make predictions on the likely everyday implications of these difficulties, and recommendations for rehabilitation.

Neuropsychological assessments can also be used to establish a person's intellectual ability (IQ).