How Long Does a Psych Evaluation Take?

What to Expect During A Psychological Evaluation

You are sure to have many questions leading up to psychological testing, and one of the most important is this – how long does a psych evaluation take?

As you try to fit this evaluation process into your schedule, and as you mentally prepare for the experience, it’s helpful to know just how long the experience is likely to be.

We’ll address that question below, along with many others that you might be pondering. A psychological evaluation can be an important part of mental health treatment, but this might be your first time going through the process. Whether you have a family history of mental illness or you have just had a mental health condition spring up seemingly out of nowhere, this testing process can be helpful.

At Icarus Recovery Center in New Mexico, we are proud to have a great team of mental health professionals working in our facility. If you choose to work with us for a mental status examination or any type of treatment, you’ll be in good hands. Take a moment now to give us a call and learn more.

What is a Psychological Evaluation?

Before we get into the timeline for the evaluation process, it’s important to stop and make sure we are clear on what a psychological evaluation is and why it might be performed. This is a structured process that is used to evaluate and assess an individual’s mental state, including their emotional, cognitive, and behavioral functioning.

This evaluation can help to find significant medical conditions, such as mental health disorders that are taking a toll on the person’s life. It can also play an important role in creating a customized treatment plan for overcoming mental health challenges and the substance abuse issues that may come along with them. In some cases, the evaluation will be ordered by a court as part of a legal proceeding such as a criminal case or parental custody arrangement.

Common Reasons for a Psych Evaluation

There are many reasons to seek a mental health evaluation. In some cases, emergency evaluations are necessary, while other situations aren’t urgent but the evaluation can still be helpful in making progress on the unhealthy emotional state that you or a loved one may be experiencing.

One reason to go through an evaluation is when the symptoms of anxiety or depression are starting to get in the way of normal functioning during day-to-day life. Not everyone with anxiety or depression will need a formal evaluation, but if there are problems arising in daily life linked to those conditions, taking a closer look through clinical interviews and other steps will be warranted.

It’s also common for people dealing with substance use addiction to have an evaluation completed. The results of the evaluation can point to the underlying cause of the addiction, and finding the right path to move forward will become easier. As mentioned above, a psych evaluation can sometimes be court-ordered, so that’s another possible reason that you will need to find a provider to help you with this process.

How Long Does the Psych Evaluation Process Take?

At this point, we can get back to the core topic at hand – how long will this process take? The answer, unfortunately, is a bit complicated. In reality, there are many different types of evaluations that measure cognitive functioning and other factors, so we can’t provide you with a one-size-fits-all answer on the duration of this experience.

To help you get a better idea of the general timeline, however, we have broken down these evaluations into three general types below.

Brief Mental Health Screenings

As the name would suggest, this is a quick process that usually takes less than an hour. For this kind of screening, the clinician is going to be looking for signs of common conditions like depression, anxiety, and substance abuse issues.

Standard Psychological Evaluations

A standard evaluation is going to get into more depth than the brief screening, and as a result, it will take longer to complete. Often, these evaluations will take somewhere between two and four hours from start to finish. However, it’s important to note that those hours might not be completed all at once, or even on the same day. There will be a collection of clinical interviews, tests, and questionnaires that add up to that total amount of time, but it could be spread out depending on scheduling factors.

Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluations

It’s possible that your situation will call for a full evaluation. At this level, the full evaluation is likely to take somewhere between six and eight hours in total. Again, as was the case above, this probably won’t occur all at once – rather, it is likely to be spread across several different days.

A few different testing methods will be used, along with possibly collateral information from family members to get a deeper understanding of your personal history.

What Does the Psychological Assessment Process Include?

Right from the start, it’s important not to be nervous or anxious about the evaluation process. These proceedings are simply meant to gather information to help you get the care required to properly confront whatever it is that you have been facing.

By knowing generally what to expect, you can calm your nerves and get through this process without any trouble at all.

Initial Intake

You’ll usually get started by chatting with a clinician for around a half hour or so. This discussion will go over your personal background and current mental state, among other topics.

Testing Session

Next, you may move into a testing session that includes a written or digital assessment that is designed to examine your mood, personality, intelligence, memory, and more.

There is a wide range of tests that can be used, and as a result, a wide range of timeframes that may be required. The test you are provided may just take an hour, or it could be multiple hours.

Collateral Information Gathering

Another step for individuals undergoing a psych evaluation includes getting collateral information from other people. You might be asked to grant your permission for the clinician to speak with family members, or to request reports from school or work.

Clinical Observations

Throughout the process, the clinician may also be generally observing your behavior to see what traits or characteristics you are exhibiting. They may want to see how you act in different settings, including social interactions.

How Long Does It Take to Get Results?

Once you have gone through all of the steps of the testing process, you will need to wait a little while to get the final report. The testing activities may just take a few hours or even less, but the professionals in charge of the process will need time to create the report that summarizes their findings.

For a relatively simple evaluation, it might take just a few days to get the results. In other cases, it could be a couple of weeks or longer, based on the detailed nature of the evaluation as well as the caseload currently in place at the clinic.

You can ask your evaluator directly how long it is expected to take so you won’t have to wonder where the report is with each passing day.

Schedule a Mental Health Evaluation at Icarus Today

It’s important to seek help for your mental health challenges as soon as possible. A general psychiatric evaluation can help you understand what you are facing and what kinds of treatment may be effective.

For a clinical consultation with the medical professionals at Icarus Recovery, you simply need to place a call today and chat with our friendly team, completely confidentially.

With a comprehensive understanding of your condition in place, a treatment plan can be built and you can start on the road to improved mental health immediately.