Clinical Reasoning in School and Clinical Psychology

Clinicians must be able to explain to others why and how they came to their assessment and treatment plans, be it to the patients themselves, parents, clinical care partners, insurance agencies, and occasionally the courts.Yet, clinicians are not trained to explain their critical thinking, clinical judgment and decision-making. This book explains the clinical decision- making process, both to improve clinical decision making and to allow clinicians to better explain and defend those decisions.Chapters describe broad classes of disorders, and include a description of disorder characteristics, a clinical reasoning model for assessment and intervention, and then a case study illustrating the clinical reasoning model in action. Case studies cover initial intake to intervention, including case conceptualization. Clinical insight will be presented regarding justification (reasons) for the decisions about assessment and treatment.In addition, information is provided about the theoretical, empirical, and clinical support for the diagnostic decision and intervention plan. Each chapter ends with a summary of the most salient assessment and intervention findings and their associated clinical judgments and insights.