Use of personality assessment instruments in empirically guided treatment planning.

Treatment planning and monitoring are essential components of mental health service delivery in the era of managed care. Personality assessment instruments have long been used by practitioners to assist in psychodiagnosis and the identification of treatment needs and goals. Nevertheless, managed-care companies and 3rd-party payers are reluctant to authorize psychological assessment service and, instead, prefer that clinicians base their plans on clinical interviews. Research is reviewed documenting the utility of personality assessment instruments in empirically guided treatment planning and the superiority of this method over clinical interviewing. A new psychological test designed specifically for use in treatment planning, the Butcher Treatment Planning Inventory (J. N. Butcher, in press), is introduced and described.