ABSTRACT
A dolescent psychopathology and emotional and behavioral adjustment are issues of considerable concern within the broader landscape of mental health care in the United States. While the traditional view of adolescence as a period of storm and stress has been debated and reconceptualized in recent decades, there is general acceptance that adolescence is marked by greater emotional difficulty, mood disruptions, and risk-taking behaviors-including substance abuse-than in other developmental periods (Arnett, 1999). Reports indicate that a substantial number of youths are identified as maladjusted and referred to mental health services in a variety of inpatient, outpatient, and residential settings as well as in educational and juvenile correctional settings. For example, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 1999 report indicated that approximately 20% of all children and adolescents are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and 10% were found to have an emotional disturbance producing functional impairment (USDHHS, 1999). A more recent report released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Office of Applied Studies indicates that approximately 4.5 to 6.3 million youths in the United States experience serious emotional disturbances (SAMHSA, 2009). Mental health professionals have the dual challenges of providing effective treatment and doing so in a time-efficient manner, per the demands of treatment efficacy and efficiency in the current mental health care scenario. In this regard, comprehensive personality assessment is an essential tool for accurate diagnosis, problem description, and identification of client strengths and limitations.
