Transdiagnostic and Contextual Assessment of Addictive Behaviors

Abstract Psychological assessment is one of the first phases in all areas of clinical psychology and is present throughout the therapeutic process. Psychological professionals working in the field of addictive behaviors are no different from those working in other areas of clinical psychology, and functional analysis and the clinical interview are their main working tools. The transdiagnostic conceptualization of addictive phenomena is becoming increasingly popular and imperative, due to its practicality and predictive validity. As opposed to the biomedical model in mental health, there is an abundance of alternatives with a transdiagnostic approach (see the HiTOP model, RDoC). Regarding assessment, this translates into hundreds of constructs and questionnaires with acceptable psychometric properties, which is common in psychology. This article provides a critical review of the transdiagnostic approach and its applications in the assessment of addictive behaviors. It also presents a proposal for transdiagnostic assessment that may be useful in guiding psychological treatment planning and evaluating treatment outcomes. The article concludes with a summary of the main implications of adopting a transdiagnostic and contextual model.