Balancing psychological assessments: including strengths and hope in client reports

Borrowing from B. A. Wright's (1991) suggestions, a balanced approach is advocated for gathering information and writing the subsequent report. Specifically, it is suggested that the clinician attend to four aspects of an interviewee: (a) the strengths in the client's psychological makeup, (b) the weaknesses in the client's psychological makeup, (c) the strengths in the client's environment, and (d) the weaknesses in the client's environment. Additionally, using hope theory (C. R. Snyder, 1994) as a framework, the importance of including information about client goals, along with the routes to those goals (pathways thinking) and the motivation to use those pathways (agency thinking), is described. Furthermore, the implications of using this framework in conducting a diagnostic interview and writing the ensuing report are provided. Finally, the advantages of including human strengths to achieve a balanced interview and report are discussed.