Family Assessment: Effective Uses of Personality Tests with Couples and Families » (1st Edition)

A. RODNEY NURSE, PhD, ABPP, is Co-director of Family Psychological Services, an independent practice of family, clinical, and forensic psychology in Orinda and Santa Rosa, California. A Life Fellow in the Society for Personality Assessment, he has taught at the University of California at Berkeley, the California School of Professional Psychology, and the California Graduate School of Family Psychology.

Although psychological tests are used to shed light on individual personalities and behaviors, they can also be powerful tools for assessing interactional patterns and relationships. Family Assessment is the first book devoted exclusively to the application and interpretation of psychological tests in couples and family therapy. Using case examples, this book offers concrete, clinical advice on how to interpret test results to gain a better understanding of interpersonal compatibility, family dynamics, and systemic functioning.

The book opens with a detailed look at how and why various psychological tests can be applied to family relationships. Separate chapters cover the use and interpretation of each of the major personality tests, including the MMPI/MMPI-2, MCMI-III, 16PF, MACI, Rorschach, and the Kinetic Family Drawing. Family Assessment also presents overall principles and practices in testing couples and using the results actively in couples therapy, regardless of which inventory is used. This is followed by a complete description of the integrated use of a full battery of tests with family members.

The numerous case studies featured in this book illustrate the best ways to use psychological tests to understand couples and family dynamics and how the test results can be successfully integrated into the therapeutic process. Also included are substantive chapters on the use of psychological tests to assess specialized family problems, which address testing in circumstances of family violence and child abuse, as well as the use of tests in helping divorcing families and dealing with custody issues.

Also addressed are the issues of whether or not totest, the costs involved, and the education and training needed to utilize tests in a practice. The future directions of psychological assessment with couples and families are also examined.

With the increasing number of dysfunctional couples and families, any procedure or process that can help us better understand their troubles deserves attention. Family Assessment should be on the bookshelf of every therapist, psychologist, and social worker who is dedicated to serving the needs of such clients.

A practical guide to the interpersonal/family applications of psychological tests.

Despite the increasing receptivity to an integration of the inter- and intrapersonal in family therapy and family psychology, classical psychological testing has not been systematically or practically applied to these fields. Family Assessment is designed to address this deficiency, providing psychologists and therapists with useful ways to apply individually focused psychological tests to couples and families and interpret the results within a systemic family framework. The book describes in detail the use and interpretation of the major personality tests, including MMPI/MMPI-2, MCMI-III, 16PF, MACI, Rorschach, and the Kinetic Family Drawing. Showing how such testing can enhance the understanding of and intervention with couples and families, Family Assessment integrates this usage with everyday psychological treatment. Special chapters cover the use of tests to assess specific kinds of family problems, such as violence and sexual abuse, and offer predictions about the future of psychological assessment of couples and families.