r/ClinicalPsychology • u/LeopardNervous5802 • 5d ago
Will assessment privileges expand to address the growing demand for mental health services?
Given the shortage of mental health professionals and the increasing demand for psychological assessments, is it likely that we'll see an expansion of assessment privileges to master-level clinicians with additional training, or the creation of separate programs (either doctoral or masters) focused solely on assessments and their interpretation?
There was this redditor a while back who also raised this point and added that if there aren’t enough graduates to meet the demand, alternative solutions will be found, even if they’re not ideal for psychologists. And this seems especially relevant considering some states now allow psychologists to prescribe medication due to the ongoing shortage of psychiatrists.
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u/Reflective_Tempist 5d ago
Its possible but likely to take 5-10 years from the start of formal process to set up such programs/procedures, and generate a sufficient number of clinicians to meet that need. One fear is that increasing the supply will considerably impact demand. Considering there is also an active shortage of master level clinicians; I doubt it would create an adverse impact. An even smaller amount of those would even consider going through such training/certification.
The biggest equalizer or detriment will likely be the advancement of AI and other assessment mediums that remove the clinician almost entirely.
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u/Haldoldreams 5d ago
Isn't intertpreting test results in light of contextual factors a critical aspect of the assessment process though, and isn't that kind of stuff exactly what AI is bad at? Genuinely asking in case my tone is not clear, I'm just a first year with an interest in neuropsych and limited knowledge of AI.
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u/CSC890 PhD - Clinical Psychology 5d ago
Yeah. I don’t see AI replacing assessors or psychologists. Trying to get an AI to assess a child’s cognitive abilities who have ADHD or ASD would be comical. I’ve been trained to never use generated reports from assessment companies too, so I don’t copy/paste those either. I find it odd when people do too.
To OP’s original question, I certainly hope not. I see waaayyyyy too many poor quality assessments and reports from PhD/PsyD-level clinicians. I can’t imagine what opening access to MA/MS would entail. I mean… what you’re describing is already what a psychometrist is. A psychologist just has to sign off on the report and diagnosis. I don’t foresee that changing to be honest.
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u/Haldoldreams 4d ago
Ha, keeping folks on track for assessments is another great point. I am interested in dementia assessment and, yeah, AI trying to keep a person with dementia in track would be a trip. Thanks for your thoughts!
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u/unicornofdemocracy (PhD - ABPP-CP - US) 5d ago
Yes. AI is most likely to replace administration free. It has to some extent replace administration for some test already. (Dear lord did I hate doing WCST).
It's definitely behind on interpretation. A lot of generated reports are pretty off I would say, strangely, with the exception to the MCMI family of tests. Those seem better. But... that family of objective measure isn't the most reliable either...
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u/Haldoldreams 4d ago
Yeah, I can definitely see space for AI-assisted assessment but I can't see AI fully taking over a complex process so reliant on clinical judgment!
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u/Anxious_Date_39 5d ago
It’s already happening
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u/Terrible_Detective45 5d ago
Eh, not exactly. Yes, assessment was included as part of the proposal from the APA for accrediting master's programs but that was just a proposal and has not been formally introduced, now have any state licensure boards changed to reflect a new scope of practice that includes assessment.
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u/Little_Walrus1800 4d ago
It is happening in the school systems with educational diagnosticians.
In my state I am sometimes seeing evals come though where an educational diagnostician (SPED teacher with an extra masters in something along the lines of psychometry) is the primary evaluator. The diagnosis has been wrong or has missed a primary (like 3 SLDs instead of intellectual disability) every time I’ve seen it. Their rule out on IDD or ASD has straight up said “doesn’t seem like they have it on observation, not worth evaluating” despite the measures and background being blatant red flags. It’s disheartening how many of these kids are getting the wrong supports and late diagnoses as a result.
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u/PsyCerulean 4d ago
Hey, some of us have master’s in related fields such as clinical psychology with heavy emphasis on neuropsychological assessment. We’re not all terrible.
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u/DBTenjoyer 1d ago
Yes unfortunately, there are many “training programs” that teach therapist how to do affirming assessing for ADHD and Autism. How does a 20hr course give someone the knowledge to assess for Autism? It’s dumbfounding, and as an MSW I have seen what my program was like and how it was like pulling teeth to get my cohort to complete their research class.
My thing is this: if you’re doing “affirming” assessments, and SOMEHOW you’re telling me that you have a 90% diagnostic outcome of Autism or ADHD… that’s just fucking strange don’t you think? Like I need to see the research on the outcomes of these assessments.
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u/MattersOfInterest Ph.D. Student (M.A.) - Clinical Science - U.S. 5d ago
It will likely eventually happen because scope expansion just seems like a thing that has historically occurred. That said, I really hope not. Assessment can be extremely complex and requires expert knowledge in very complicated psychometrics as well as basic scientific knowledge about cognition, behavioral development, and so on—stuff that is not taught in any real depth (if at all) in clinically-based master’s programs. How is someone supposed to interpret, say, an IQ battery with a normal FSIQ but a below average verbal IQ and mildly impaired orthographic processing if that person has no education on what orthographic processing even is? Good assessment isn’t something that can be taught in a certification course, and frankly the knowledge needed to do it just isn’t taught at the master’s level.