Clinician's Thesaurus, 8th Edition

Edward L. Zuckerman, PhD, clinical psychologist, has been in independent practice for more than 15 years in medical and office settings. He serves as a consultant to the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and to the Social Security Disability Determination Division, and has taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

Getting Oriented to the Clinician's Thesaurus. Part I: Conducting a Mental Health Evaluation Beginning and Ending the Interview. Mental Status Evaluation Questions/ Tasks. Questions about Signs, Symptoms, and Behavior Patterns. Part II: Standard Terms and Statements for Wording. Psychological Reports. A. Introducing the Report. Preliminary Information. Referral Reasons. Background Information and History. B. The Person in the Evaluation. Behavioral Observations. Responses to Aspects of the Examination. Presentation of Self. Emotional/Affective Symptoms and Disorders. Cognition and Mental Status. Abnormal Signs, Symptoms, and Syndromes. Personality Patterns. C. The Person in the Environment. Activities of Daily Living. Social/Community Functioning. Couple and Family Relationships. Vocational/Academic Skills. Recreational Functioning. Other Specialized Evaluations. D. Completing the Report. Summary of Findings and Conclusions. Diagnostic Statements/Impression. Recommendations. Prognostic Statements. Closing Statements. Part III: Useful Resources. Treatment Planning and Treatment Plan Formats. Formats for Reports, Evaluation, and Summaries. Listing of Common Psychiatric and Psychoactive Drugs. Psychiatric Masquerade of Medical Conditions. Appendices: Abbreviations in Common Use. Conversions of Scores Based on the Normal Curve of Distribution. Annotated Readings in Assessment, Interviewing, and Report Writing.