Psychological Evaluation ReportClient Name: Godfrey MacTivity Clinician: Shawna Williams, M.S. Reason for Evaluation: The evaluation was conducted as an assignment for a senior-level undergraduate cou

Client Name: Godfrey MacTivity Clinician: Shawna Williams, M.S.

Reason for Evaluation: The evaluation was conducted as an assignment for a senior-level undergraduate course on psychological testing. Mr. MacTivity volunteered to participate. There were no presenting problems or issues.

Evaluation Instruments: Psychosocial interview; Peabody Picture-Vocabulary Test (PPVT-IV), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Short Form (EPQ-R); Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB).

Brief Identifying Information: Mr. MacTivity is a 20-year-old single white male employed in retail sales and attending community college on a part-time basis while residing in the family home with his mother.

Behavioral Observations: Mr. MacTivity presented on time for the evaluation appointment. A slender man looking slightly younger than his stated age, he was dressed casually but neatly in khaki slacks, a striped shirt, and loafers. He looked flustered upon arrival and explained that he had hurried to the appointment after finishing a shift at work. Initially a bit anxious, he settled quickly into the assessment routine and was cooperative and pleasant throughout.

Psychosocial History: Mr. MacTivity grew up in a Connecticut shoreline community, where he attended public schools. The youngest of three children born to a middle-class married couple, he describes his early years as having been idyllic; he played indoor and outdoor games with many neighborhood friends and generally enjoyed school as well as his close-knit family life. This was shattered at his age 11 when his adored father left the family to move in with another woman in a distant state, a traumatic separation that coincided with his transition to middle school and early stirrings of puberty. His middle and high school years were marred by his grief over the loss of his father, concern for his mother (who appeared to be struggling with major depression), the successive departures of his siblings (who were 3 and 5 years older than he), and increasing perceived academic pressure as he strove to keep up with his ambitious classmates. His high school grades were adequate but not outstanding, he found himself struggling with anxiety, and eventually he took his guidance counselor’s advice to switch to a less demanding curriculum. Now he regrets that decision, stating that it makes him feel like a “quitter” or “loser” and that he wishes he had gone away to a residential four-year college like most of his friends. Socially, he says, high school was “all right, but a big letdown after such a great childhood.” He had a few close friends but was not considered one of the “popular” kids. His main recreational interests were in role-playing fantasy games and underground music (he mentions dubstep, ska, and emo as genres he had followed at one time or another). He acknowledges some recreational use of marijuana, but states that this was never more than once or twice per week. He states that he does not enjoy the effects of alcohol and denies all other drug use. He describes his sexual orientation as heterosexual, but states that he tends to lack confidence with women. During high school, he had one short-lived sexual relationship with a girl he describes as “an outcast.” He broke this relationship off when his friends teased him about it. He expresses regret for having hurt the girl’s feelings and for having let himself be pressured into giving up something precious. Recently he has begun a flirtation with a co-worker at the clothing store where he has worked since high school, and he is optimistic that this will develop into a “real” relationship.

Cognitive Functioning: The PPVT-IV is a measure of receptive vocabulary. Scores on the PPVT-IV correlate fairly strongly with overall verbal intelligence, but it must be remembered that this is not a comprehensive intelligence test, so the results are only suggestive of anything other than the extent of the test-taker’s word knowledge. Mr. MacTivity obtained a standard score of 108, an average-range result corresponding to the 70th percentile of the population.

Personality Structure and Dynamics: Mr. MacTivity’s EPQ-R results place him in the Average range on Extraversion, the High range on Neuroticism, and the Low Average range on Psychoticism. These results suggest that he is a pleasant person who suffers more than most from negative emotions such as anxiety, depression, or guilt, and may have difficulty adjusting when confronted with stressful circumstances.

Mr. MacTivity’s RISB score of 148 indicates that he is experiencing some adjustment problems at this time. Qualitative analysis of the RISB protocol suggests several themes:

· Considerable concern over his current life situation and future prospects (e.g., “Other people seem to be more successful than me,” “The future seems clouded and uncertain,” “I can’t seem to make progress in life”);

· Concern for his mother’s emotional state (“Back home my mother is always sad”) mingled with frustration over the obligation he feels toward her (“I wish I could just move away without feeling guilty over my mom being left alone”);

· A mixture of sentimental recollections from childhood (“When I was a child I played happily with the other kids”) with regrets for how things since then have worsened (“In high school I never stood out;” “What pains me is how life seems to go downhill as you grow up”);

· High levels of anxiety (e.g., “I feel nervous and shaky a lot of the time,” “My nerves frankly could be a lot stronger than they are”).

It will be noted that these themes overlap with both his life history (as obtained via interview) and his self-reported personality traits.

Summary and Recommendations: Mr. MacTivity may be described as a kind, gentle young man who functions adequately but suffers from chronic anxiety and inhibitions. There may be some familial vulnerability to negative emotionality, but his specific problems appear to stem from his father’s traumatic abandonment of the family when the boy was on the threshold of major life transitions. The successive departures of his elder siblings reinforced this sense of abandonment and cast him in the role of dutiful son, attending to his mother’s emotional needs as much as to his own. He has been unable to accept the role of a competitive, ambitious youth or young man (perhaps due to a rejection of his father’s self-centered life decision) and has fallen into a circumscribed life pattern. It is important to emphasize that this does not imply significant psychological disorder; he is able to manage work, school, and some kind of social life. But he is understandably dissatisfied with his current situation. Mr. MacTivity would be a good candidate for either insight-oriented psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral treatment; either could help him to break free of his inhibitions and pursue a more gratifying life.

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