Diagnosis
Defined as the process of identifying a disease, condition, or injury from its signs and symptoms.
Psychological diagnosis
Psychological diagnosis consists not only in the evaluation of a specific symptomatology presented by the person, but also in the careful analysis of the subject's life history, mental and physical symptoms, behavioral patterns, mental activity, and information obtained by various assessment modalities.
Psychopathological diagnosis
Psychopathological diagnosis refers to the assessment of behavioural, cognitive and affective processes that are maladaptive and/or a source of distress. Their evaluation involves the identification of the psychological, social and environmental factors that originated and feed them, using specific tools, such as clinical observation and established and recognized diagnostic classification systems, such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
The tools
The psychological diagnosis uses a variety of methods, specific to the type of the observed phenomenon.
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Clinical observation
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Psychological interview
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Questionnaires​
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Psychodiagnostic tests
Feedback interview
At the end of the diagnostic process, the patient will be informed about the final conclusions, he/she will have a clear picture of the path undertaken and will know what emerged from the interviews and psychological tests.
The feedback interview aims to make the client more aware of his own strengths and weaknesses and allow him/her to identify some guidelines for his/her own development. The objective is therefore to promote a constructive use, by the client, of the feedback received, regarding the choices he/she is developing.
At the end of the feedback interview the psychologist, always taking into account the limits of his or her own competence, formulates a possible proposal for treatment, the timing and methods of which are agreed upon with the client.
If the client's interests or situation requires the use of other specific skills, the psychologist proposes the consultation or referral to another colleague or another professional (Article 37 of the Code of Ethics of Italian Psychologists).
In any case, the client will be free to choose whether to follow the advice of the psychologist, as autonomously as possible.
Finally, the feedback of the client on the intervention or on the behavior of the psychologist can provide new and important insights for the psychologist himself. Comments, opinions, constructive criticism will always be welcome.