Independent Psychological Evaluations

Independent Psychological Evaluations

Our psychological evaluations are comprehensive and thorough; they last on average approximately 10 hours, spread across at least two days, and include an individualized battery of state-of-the-art standardized tests as well as structured diagnostic interviews, record review, and collateral information gathering as needed. We have evaluated well over 200 plaintiffs at the request of both plaintiff and defense attorneys. Our reports have never been disallowed nor our testimony prohibited.

We have also conducted analysis and critique of organizational policies and procedures of hundreds of companies, both large and small, as well as large scale organizational studies at the request of both plaintiffs and defendants in the context of major class action litigation.


Psychological Testing
Objective psychological testing is a critical part of any forensic or other diagnostic evaluation. Although its advantages are many (e.g., reliability, validity), any test – even storied instruments such as the MMPI-2 – is only as good as the clinician who can interpret it in context and generate research-based hypotheses to be validated or disproven by further clinical examination. FCA psychologists are uniquely situated to provide the in-depth interpretations critical to litigation. Each of us has taught psychological assessment to advanced students for many years, published scholarly articles on various psychological tests, and used tests in real world litigation contexts for nearly 30 years. We make thorough and thoughtful psychological testing a critical part of our assessment practices. If you have questions about a testing report, or simply want to know more about the pluses and minuses of these ubiquitous instruments, FCA psychologists have the answers.

Structured Diagnostic Interview
The heart of the psychological evaluation is the diagnosis; is the plaintiff depressed? Is she suffering from PTSD? Can these conditions be attributed to the actions of the defendant or to some other proximate cause? Although there are probably as many ways of coming to a diagnosis as there are psychologists and psychiatrists, only a few of these have been shown to possess the reliability and validity critical in a forensic situation. Of these, the “gold standard” is widely considered to be the Structured Diagnostic Interview for DSM V or SCID-V. The SCID-V is a detailed, semi-structured interview that systematically guides the clinician through all the steps necessary to reliably determine both current and life-time diagnoses. It’s careful consideration of the time period-symptom relationship is a critical aid to determining pre-existing conditions as well as co-morbid conditions. It allows the clinician to place the crucial events in the time line of the plaintiff’s emotional history and then to look both backward and forward for causation and rule outs. Unlike most evaluators, FCA psychologists conduct a SCID-V examination of ever plaintiff we see.

Psychological History
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Malingering Evaluation
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Trauma/PTSD

Whether it is social phobia, specific phobia, post traumatic stress disorder, general anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, or similar, it falls under the category of anxiety disorder, and calls for clinical and...

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Depressive Disorders

A relationship goes through numerous phases during its life cycle, and it is obvious for it to have a few rough patches. However, the strength of a relationship is reflected in how the couples deal with those ...

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Personality Disorders

Individual treatment is often termed as psychotherapy, and is meant to help people with their emotional issues, which can range in order of their severity or intensity. The main aim of this form of therapy is to change...

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