On the Way to Collaborative Psychological Assessment

Constance T. Fischer, PhD, ABPP, retired as professor emeritus of psychology from Duquesne University. She is best known for pioneering an individualized/collaborative/therapeutic approach to psychological assessment and for her contributions to the field of qualitative research. Dr. Fischer has authored or edited six books and authored over 125 chapters and articles on psychological assessment, qualitative research, and professional issues.

“Constance Fischer is a distinguished pioneer in the development of person-centered, collaborative, and therapeutic assessment. This collection of her papers provides valuable access to her body of work and bears witness to her exemplary contributions to psychological research and practice.”—Irving B. Weiner, professor of psychiatry behavioral neuroscience, University of South Florida; past president, Society of Personality Assessment and Society of Clinical Psychology“It’s not often that we have the opportunity to follow the work of an innovative thinker and clinician through half a century as we watch the route she took “On the way to collaborative psychological assessment.” In this wonderful collection, Dr. Fischer takes us on that journey, beginning with a lovely, previously unpublished autobiography, moving through the theoretical infrastructure that supports collaborative assessment, and concluding with extraordinarily useful papers on its practice and teaching.”— Philip Erdberg PhD, ABPP, associate clinical professor, University of California-San Francisco“This volume of collected papers of Constance Fischer presents the development of the innovative collaborative assessment approach over time. Collaborative/therapeutic assessment began when Dr. Fischer integrated existential and phenomenological theory and personality assessment. This was a paradigm shift in the assessment world and, in these writings, we can follow the evolution of this approach. The book is rich in clinical vignettes that illustrate what collaborative assessment looks like when practiced. And throughout is the humanistic and wise voice of Constance Fischer—a treat to listen to.”—Sandra Russ, PhD, distinguished university professor, Louis D. Beaumont University professor of psychology, Case Western Reserve University

• Foreword Stephen E. Finn Preface Introduction Part 1: The Development of Collaborative/Individualized Assessment 1: The testee as co-evaluator. 2: Paradigm changes which allow sharing of results. 3: Intelligence contra IQ: A human-science critique and alternative to the natural science approach to man. 4: Undercutting the scientist-professional dichotomy: The reflective psychologist. 5: Historical relations of psychology as an object-science and subject-science: Toward psychology as a human-science.6: Dilemmas in standardized testing. 7: Individualized assessment and phenomenological psychology. 8: Intimacy in psychological assessment. Part II: Practicing Collaborative/Individualized Assessment 9: Collaborative psychological assessment. 10: Assessing Process. 11: Collaborative, individualized assessment. 12: Individualized assessment moderates the impact of HIPAA privacy rules. Part III: Teaching Collaborative/Individualized Assessment 13. Rorschach scoring questions as access to dynamics. 14. The Rorschach and the life-world: Exploratory exercises. Appendix. Complete Publications of Constance T. Fischer Index