Neuropsych appt Wednesday, scared and anxious!

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Hey everyone, I have my all-day neuropsychological evaluation on Wednesday and am really anxious about it. I really want them to find something that will help with my diagnosis but am also scared they'll misdiagnose me with a bunch of personality disorders again!

Anyone have any advice or have gone through this process as an adult, would really, really appreciate it!!

No advice, but I wish you well.

Thank you lelia my mom's name is Lelia, I already am comforted!

I tend to do a lot of writing leading up to any important appointment and consider videotaping them if they don't freak out.

I can use the iPhone and it is unobtrusive.

The thing is, I forget under the stress of the thing, sometimes I maximize and sometimes I minimize so I have to average things out.

I recently decided to be an adult and get a second periodontal opinion. I liked it better than the first one and will go with that doctor.

I'm just thinking about my next appointment, it is with Apple and then the VA and I need to confirm a dental appt.

Thanks for bring it up

I also put appts. off while writing and gathering a folder of questions etc. to bring up during the session.

Larry

I think they'll be asking me the questions but hopefully I can get to ask some of my own. Thanks caveman2

Well, it is your dime.

I think it is good to look at the various therapists like you would any other person you are hiring to do a job, in this case a psychological or behavioral one.

You are the boss, it is your time and money being traded, perhaps there are several therapists with some other ideas. I'm thinking I would profit from some therapy myself.

i googled to check what neuropsychological evaluation is i couldnt figure it out.....who does it a psychologist, psychiatrist or neurologist???

Generally done by a psychologist with an interest in testing which is a large field in itself.

Update: just got home a little while ago from the appointment. Yea, it was pretty intense but I think I did pretty well over all. When I went into the psychologist's office she had a desk and 3 chairs and a really bright florescent light... I stalled at the chairs... which one do I sit in? There was one next to the desk pretty close, sort of facing it at an angle and two more off to the side at the wall... I went to the ones by the wall and she said please sit in "this chair" the one by the desk, so I did.... I must've been squinting or blinking because she asked me if the lights were too bright. I said yes, I usually don't like florescent lights, she asked do they give me headaches and I said no, it's just painful to look while they're on....

I don't know really how I talked or acted it's all a blur but I know I just couldn't look at the woman even though she had a very pleasant face because I just HAD to get some of this out, describe it well, ya know?

So, I am home now looking up every test I took, so far it was the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, which I did pretty badly on, also a Trailmaking test, which I did very quickly, 18 seconds on the first with zero errors and 58 seconds on the second test, also a math test that I finished with 2 mins to spare although I botched one of the algebra problems because I couldn't decide if I wanted to find p and q using addition or subtraction of the two equations.... arggh....

Also this word game.... wow that really messed with me badly. After the second time I realized I couldn't remember them in order at all, I could hold 3 and then once I got to the fourth the 3 would like drop off my mind... then, I realized they were things in categories, transportation, animals, furniture, and vegetables. The third time I was asked to recall them I switched to remembering them this way and got them all and never forgot them, even when asked 30 minutes later and asked if they were one of two words. I believe I got a perfect score after the third time the tester recited the list.

Ah, also a few psychological/personality tests and a couple of questionnaires for ADHD.

Also!! ! She gave me the AQ!! !! I'm so flippin' psyched I got that! I'm also happy I've already taken it online and got over my "embarrassment" of those traits....

Did great on the spelling test too, maybe 2 wrong.

Couldn't be happier right now!

Also wanted to note an odd exchange I can't make sense of....


When the psychologist introduced me to the tester she mentioned that I was going to be making chocolates (I had talked about this as it was planned in my week this week and ongoing, as a schedule thing, actually) and the tester was like oh really? and I looked at that them both, one at a time, back and forth, and was like um, what do I say? It's not a special interest... I'm just doing it so I know how for my business.... so bizarre, what was she testing with that? I felt like it was a test...

Also found out I have sound/kinesthesia synesthesia which is why I love Dubstep and deep pressure activities. (bear hugs, heavy blankets, being wrapped tightly in something, the weight of my body on my leg underneath me, etc.) groovy

it would be expensive to get complete neurological profile????

It's hard to say if it would be expensive. For me, I have student health insurance that probably covers intelligence testing on some level but not fully. In the US medicine is more expensive than anywhere in the world so I'm guessing and forgive me but India may be less expensive because of universal health care laws? I looked it up but there isn't much info on the system. Anyway if you're curious you can have partial testing done that can indicate enough for your doctor to make a diagnosis.

How disappointing that I'm just finding this thread NOW?

I'm glad the testing went well for you! You can't actually do "badly" on any of the tests, just so you know! Well... unless you're faking it, and the tests will show that, then people will say you "failed" the test. Otherwise, there's no doing poorly. They're just measures.

Also, neuropsychology is a *broad* spectrum. I'm a neuropsychologist, but I study behavior (I'm a licensed forensic behavior analyst), and brain neurology/chemistry and bioelectrophysics. I don't do testing at all. There are other neuropsychs that JUST do testing, others that JUST work with people with autism, and others that work with JUST degenerative disorders. So... it's a large scope of practice. When I'm not studying behavior, I'm studying brains and everything that goes on in there when things are poked!

A neurologist doesn't have anything to do with behavior unless they've specialized in the biobehavioral sciences (such as at UCLA). They have a specific department in the medical sciences department that handles this. This is also where you find people like me who poke brains and study degenerative diseases/disorders.

A psychologist generally is just a talk therapist, or someone that does testing. They have no medical or biological training that's not specialized. There are two forms of psychologists (well, there are three, really, but most of us properly educated people (this is where I *duck*) ignore the third): Psy.D and Ph.D - one is a clinical psychologist that does mostly clinical work. They've trained to work as therapists, and have usually specialized. The education is shorter, and the clinical training starts sooner. The second one, a Ph.D is a research psychologist. This psychologist is the fastest receding class of psychologist. Most people have moved toward the Psy.D. A Ph.D is capable of doing just able anything a "psychologist" can do without getting any lip from anyone. They've had intense research training, some clinical training, usually have specialized - which was also intense - and have worked on a dissertation which was published.

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor that's spent his residency working in psychiatric care facilities - either inpatient or outpatient. They have the ability to prescribe medication, conduct psychological testing, mental stability testing, and perform a number of evaluations. Their psychological training is often times far less intense than either a Psy.D or a Ph.D. Often times the training is merely 1 year of study on disorders - and only the most pervasive disorders. There are psychiatrists, however, that continue to practice therapy or even prefer to co-treat their patients with therapy and medication. This is rare, though, as most psychiatrists prefer to prescribe medication and make the visit as short as possible - this is mostly do to billing constraints.

Billing constraints for inpatient treatment and outpatient treatment are different.

Kirayng: Welcome to the wonderful world of the Sonitiles! One of the most rare forms of synesthesia is sound/tactile synesthesia! At least as far as true synesthesia goes... It's also one of the absolute hardest to diagnose! I remember when I found out, we had to read the report a few times because it was so astonishing. It's like growing up colour blind... you just never knew you were different until your someone says, "Hey! Your brain's tactile centers are activating before your audio processors are!" HA!

The tests SUCKED But, hey! Welcome We're a rare breed Also! I got your PM, I'll respond to it when I get home... I love dubstep too... but only some. I'm listening to DubFX non-stop atm.

Anyway, I hope that helps everyone... again, sorry I couldn't offer any help before today.

_Bloom

Glad your Neuropsych test came out ok kirayng.