ABSTRACT
Dating back to the rise of clinical psychology in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century, the psychologist’s primary clinical role involved assessment. The psychologist often served in this role as a member of a multidisciplinary team in institutional settings such as hospitals, universities, and the military. Addressing such clinically meaningful and complex referral questions required a multi-method assessment battery. This entailed self-report, performance-based, and collateral-report methods. Convergence and seeming incongruity among data from different types of methods facilitate weighing confidence in inferences and determining conditions under which they apply. Joshua’s underdevelopment in emotional regulation involved strong self-protective efforts to constrict his acknowledgment and expression of what he is feeling. The new understanding involving the profound roles of shame, trauma, sexual preoccupations, and characterological factors indicated that there was more than just a need for skill-building in the residential setting.
