Journal #43

Taking a standardized test to asses mental health would be a hard test to design. The questions would have to be very structured in order to make the results accurate. I think that the questions would have to be very situation oriented. They would ask things such as in this situation, how would you respond or think, and have options that fit. To get options that fit the question, and properly provide accurate information, you would have to either find or conduct research of different mental illnesses and how people with such illnesses act in the situations that the questions are asking about. The test would have to be for the most part filled with those types of questions, unlike the standardized tests that we are used to, consisting of math, science, reading, and English. I feel as though even if you do research, and formulate the questions in the fashion that I mentioned before, the results would not be nearly as accurate as an in person test for a mental illness. What may be a good idea is to have the test, and those people whose results showed some sings of a mental illness then went to a specialist and had further in depth, and in person, tests for the type of mental illness or illnesses that the test suggested they may have signs of. I am not sure it that kind of process is the most efficient way to find and asses the mental health of a person, because by the time you have them take a test, and get the results, and then have them come in for further examination, it may just be easier to have people with signs observed to be those of a mental illness, go directly into the specialist and be diagnosed from there. A big flaw of the test would also be people answering questions dishonestly or incorrectly, this would result in those who do not have a mental illness showing signs, and those who do have an illness not showing signs.