Psy.D. Handbook Doctor of Psychology Program in Clinical ...

There will be test data that needs to be integrated into the report. Points will be
assigned for each accurate representation of a data point. Points will be assigned to
diagnosis, recommendations, summary, and overall quality of written expression.
IV. Clinical Case Evaluation: Psychotherapy: Each student is assigned to two faculty members
for the Clinical Case Evaluation. The Clinical Case Evaluation is scheduled for one hour.
You must present either an audio-recording of an individual psychotherapy session or
three consecutive sessions of process (i.e., verbatim) recording. Each faculty member will
have access to the student’s psychotherapy tape and transcript, or process notes. Cases
must come from practicum (PSYC 782-83; PSYC 695; PSYC 750-54, or PSYC 785, if
required). Students must use the department’s Release for Audio Recording Form
(Appendix XIII) even if the practicum site has its own form. Submit both forms, if
needed, but you must submit the department’s form if you are audio-recording a single
session. If audio-recording, use small tapes or CDs. Other methods must be approved by
the chair. (Requests are made in writing, hard copy, signed, dated.) (not small tapes for
mini-recorders). Transcripts must be typed. Each examiner gets one copy of the tape and
one copy of the transcript, so please make duplicates. If you are using process notes, your
supervisor must sign and date each of the three consecutive sessions to verify your work.
Make duplicate copies for the examiners. You may bring your own copy for reference
during the examination.
There are two parts to the psychotherapy evaluation.
1. Case Presentation (Pass or Fail): The first part is devoted to summarizing the case
orally. You will be asked, “Please summarize your case.” Your summary should
include reason for referral and relevant background and history, diagnosis,
treatment plan, medication, general health status, type of therapy approach, and
progress to date. The expectation is that students will be able to present a case in a
format similar to the type of verbal case reports that are summarized concisely in a
Case Conference of Grand Rounds proceeding. There is no written component
that accompanies the case. You are not permitted to read from notes. You may be
asked a follow-up question (e.g., “How did you arrive at the diagnosis?”), but the
goal is to limit this portion of the examination to no more than 15-minutes. An
example of how students are expected to present their case is as follows.
The patient is a 25-year-old Caucasian female, college educated, employed as
a computer operator in a nationally-known firm with a history of Bulimia
Nervosa who was referred to…facility because of depression, anxiety, and
suicidal ideation following the break-up of a two-year relationship with her
boyfriend. The patient lives alone. Following the break-up, she became
depressed and began a binge-purge cycle. She was talking about suicide. Her
friend came with her to the emergency room. They referred her here. She has
never been hospitalized, but has had a few short-term therapies. She was kept
overnight and then released. She was placed on Zoloft and referred for
outpatient individual and group therapy. She has been seeing me weekly for
three months. My approach to therapy is…Progress has been…
Grading: This section is graded as Pass or Fail
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