Uh, by that I mean whether or not you have a favorite psych test. We’ll save tests for pets for another day.
There are many out there who love the Myers Briggs (MBTI). Others love the DISC. When people have a pet test it is usually because the test provides a quick and dirty profile in order to understand and categorize a person’s behavior. Actually, and sadly, we often like certain tests because they allow us to pigeon hole others (as in, “your such a J”).
But, I do have favorite tests. I love to review the couple version of the 16PF with both long-time marrieds and those seeking pre-marital counseling. When I was doing parent competency assessments, there were a number of lesser known tests that illustrated a parent’s capacity to be flexible (and so hopefully less rigid and abusive). When it comes to personality assessment, the MMPI-2 and the Rorshach (Exner scoring) are my favorites.
But lately, most of my assessments have been with pastors. I’ve found a number of great little tools to illustrate compassion fatigue and other at-risk problems. These assessments lack the depth and rigor of a personality test but work great as conversation starters and self-evaluation tools. With these I don’t have to explain what they mean.
How about you? Got a favorite test you’ve taken? Given? Why is it your favorite?
Musings on Faith and Psychology 
I love the MMPI-2. It provides a great deal of information and is my absolute favorite. I also like projective tests like the Rorshach and TAT. No tests are completely reliable, but they sure are great tools and offer helpful information. I enjoy using the Prepare-Enrich Inventories for pre-marital counseling. They cover so many key relationship areas. Intelligence testing instruments like the Wechsler are also great and I really enjoy using them as part of a battery of tests in screening for ADHD children. More often, however, I use the self-evaluations by Beck (BDI and BAI). These are quick tools and helpful in identifying immediate symptoms and their severity.
Awww, man, I thought you were going to help me psychologically determine what’s wrong with my pets–like why my shih tzu knocked over the trash can in the bathroom and spread it’s contents all over the apartment at 5 this morning. Awww, pets, gotta love ’em.
The two I end up using most often are the QIDS-SR16 for depressive symptoms and the GAD-7 for anxiety symptoms. They’re fast, free, easy to score, and they’re helpful in quantifying distress, which can be difficult for people without some sort of context.
If both are in the severe range, I’ll usually give copies of the tests with my card attached to take to their physician for a med consult–it saves a lot of time.
Hi Dr. Monroe,
Did you post this because of Dr. Welch’s talk that CCEF’s Help and Hope put up this week?
If not, it’s an amazing coincidence. Neat.
The ministry I work for gives all of its staff a Birkman. They use it all the time. To give it credit where credit is due, it does have suggestions for how to relax, which can be helpful.
I like MBTI for the very reason that we can label people (I think I’m INFJ). With the Birkman, it’s too extensive to summarize a person.
Forgot to mention the MBTI. This is a fun test often used in career counseling and couples counseling. For excellent books based on the personality types, check out “Just Your Type” and “Do What You Are” by Tieger & Barron-Tiger. The books have clear descriptions of every single type as it relates to career interests, relationships, etc.
How about the The Arno Profile System? which is based on the Theory of Temperament, although it isn’t a true personality test.