2023 SPA Convention

Full Day Workshop (8:30 am- 5:30 pm) 

Collaborating in the Past, Present, and Future: Pre-Conference Institute on Therapeutic Assessment 

See Full Schedule Here

Full Day Workshops (8:30 pm - 5:30 pm) | 7 CE Credits 

Multi-Method and Contextual, Diversity-Sensitive Methods in Assessment 

Presenters: A. Jordan Wright, PhD, and Hadas Pade, PsyD

MCMI-IV and MACI-II: Operationalizing the Millon Inventories from Adolescence through Adulthood

Presenters: Seth Grossman, PsyD, and Robert Trigone, PhD

Therapeutic Assessment with Children: A Brief Intervention to Address the Current Mental Health Crisis in Children and Families 

Presenters: Stephin Finn, PhD, Marita Frackowiak, PhD, and Dale Rudin, PhD

TA in the Bedroom: Fostering Intimacy in Couples in an Era of Fear and Disconnection 

Presenters: Pamela Schaber, PhD, and Filippo Aschieri, PhD

Half Day Workshops (8:30 am - 12:15 pm) | 3.5 CE Credits

Personality Assessment Consultation Opportunites with the Federal Aviation Administration: An Orientation to Practices and Standards, V. 2

Presenter: Ray King, PhD, JD

Half Day Workshops (1:30 pm - 5:15 pm) | 3.5 CE Credits 

From SPSS to R, Why and How to Make the Transition

Presenters: Ruam R.F.A. Pimental, MA, and Gregory Meyer, PhD

Using the Personality Assessment Inventory-Adolescent in Clinical and Forensic Settings

Presenters: Nora Charles, PhD, and Paula Floyd

Half Day Workshops (8:30 am - 12:15pm) | 3.5 CE Credits 

Assessing Multicultural Clients with Bipolar Disorder: Challenges, Implications and Solutions 

Presenter: Linda McGhee, PsyD, JD

Clinical Application of the DSM-5 Alternative Model for Persoanlity Disorders (AMPD) 

Presenters: Bob Krueger, PhD, and Tanya Freedland, MPS

Risk Assessment of People Convicted for Sexual Offenses: Where Are We and Where Do We Go From Here? 

Presenter: Wineke Smid, PhD

Recent Developments with the PAI

Presenter: Les Morey, PhD

Using the AAP in an Adolescent Therapeutic Assessment: The LIngering Effect of a Mother's Attachment Trauma on Her Daughter's Failed Mourning

Presenters: Carol George, PhD, and Melissa Lehmann, PhD

Full Day Workshop (8:30 am - 5:30 pm) | 7 CE Credits

Introduction to the MMPI-3 for Psychology Practice 

Presenters: Martin Sellbom, PhD, and Dustin Wygant, PhD 

Therapeutic Assessment (TA) in Clients with Personality Disorder(s): Pitfalls and Adaptions

Presenters: Hilde De Saeger, PhD, and Jan Kamphuis, PhD

Presenter: Dr. Apryl Alexander 

Racism, discrimination, and prejudice harm People of Color's physical and mental health and well-being and are potentially traumatic incidents. However, racial, cultural, intergenerational, and/or historical trauma are rarely consistently considered in the assessment of trauma along with other common forms of trauma, such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, and intimate partner violence. Racial trauma refers traumatic events related to real or perceived experiences of racial discrimination, which can include threats of harm or injury, humiliation, or witnessing harm to People of Color (Carter, 2007; Comas-Díaz et al., 2019). Psychologists have also suggested that cultural factors, such as cultural mistrust and exposure to police violence, should also be considered in evaluations (Dixon et al., in press; Isen, 2022). This aligns with other recent calls for anti-racist psychological assessment. Indeed, Byrd et al. (2021) note, “An antiracist psychology will consistently identify, accurately label, and directly address racism as it is encountered” (p. 280). From daily microaggressions to contacts with law enforcement, it is important for psychologists to capture these incidents in the process of their evaluations. Dr. Alexander will discuss how assessment tools that can be used to evaluate racial and cultural trauma to engage in better anti-racist psychological practice. 

Presenter: Dr. James Pennebaker

The ways people express themselves in everyday language is consistent across time and context. These linguistic fingerprints are most visible in people's use of function words (e.g. pronouns, prepositions) rather than in the content of their speech. Multiple studies point to the power of text analysis in the assessment of personality and in the prediction of important social, emotional, and cognitive behaviors in people's lives. Self-reports certainly have their role but it's time to expand our thinking.

Presenters: Panelist TBD

We are excited to announce the inaugural SPA Career Development Plenary, a new take on the plenary session, empowering attendees to learn and grow with each other as we explore the complexities of careers in personality assessment. 

The Plenary’s innovative format is being designed to facilitate communion, collaboration, and inspiration, with the majority of the session taking place in five small group interactions, each focused on a different personality assessment career: Personality assessment science in academic psychology, Personality assessment training, Applied practice, Large governmental/medical organizations, and Forensics. 

Free to move to and from different groups as suits your focus and interest, the conversations will cover the full range of careers in personality assessment, exploring the considerable diversity and distinctions within each. The goal of the experience is for SPA members and conference attendees to further their understanding of the career landscape in personality assessment through the experience and wisdom of senior personality assessors facilitating the discussions and sharing lessons from the navigation of their unique professional paths. Our facilitators will promote productive and inclusive conversations about what life is really like in each of these domains of personality assessment. Discussion topics may include issues of power, diversity, and equity; practical issues such as how to best allocate one’s time or when and how to apply for different positions; brass tacks questions about workload, pay, management, and benefits; and anything else that might come up.

We encourage all conference attendees of every career stage to participate, including students and early career professionals who are still considering career options, more advanced trainees seeking the best preparation for their chosen path, and experienced professionals willing to share their experiences and support learning together. Join us for an opportunity to network in community with a diverse group of personality assessment professionals, explore the many professional applications of personality assessment, and enrich our professional pipelines by supporting emerging professionals as they prepare for productive and satisfying careers. 

Presenters: Jan Kamphuis, Arjen Noordhof, Christopher Hopwood
Panelist:  TBD

Utilizing the article “When and How Assessment Matters: An Update on the Treatment Utility of Clinical Assessment (TUCA)” as a starting point, this interactive plenary will provide attendees the opportunity to think about how to advance and study the Treatment Utility of Clinical Assessment (TUCA; or the extent to which clinical assessment enhances subsequent treatment benefits for patients), and what this might mean for SPA. Following a brief introduction lecture, a subsequent panel discussion will engage the membership in thinking about concrete ways how the SPA community might advance this concept and its practice. With defining TUCA and then communicating its value as a strategic focus for the 2023 calendar year, we encourage all research teams interested in applying for the Treatment Utility of Clinical Assessment grant to attend and contribute to this plenary. Please see the (adapted) public significance statement of the article below for more information:

Public Significance Statement: The degree to which clinical assessment has treatment utility , i.e, the extent to which clinical assessment enhances subsequent treatment benefits for patients has long been controversial. We suggest specifying and examining more closely the conditions under which assessment can—or cannot—contribute to treatment process and ultimately patient benefit. Clear thinking about this important topic can contribute to improved research as well as more efficient practice of clinical assessment. We distinguish direct and indirect benefits of assessment and advocate the implementation of some form of stepped assessment in clinical practice.

The science-based technology of personality assessment by self-report is approximately a century and a quarter old. In this presentation, I review its historical foundations and evolution to contemporary approaches. I then discuss the strengths and challenges of these techniques and propose ways the field may advance. Key points include the advantages of: Grounding self-report-based measures in empirically developed and supported personality and psychopathology models; considering setting-specific variables when interpreting test scores; incorporating diversity-sensitive practices; and capitalizing on the heretofore unrealized potential of computer technology.

Using R-PAS in Legal Settings: Three Case Studies

“Why Have I Always Wanted to be Dead? When Did that Start?” The Importance of the Early Memories Procedure in a Multi-Method Collaborative Therapeutic Assessment of a Chronically Suicidal Young Woman Who “Failed” Dialectical Behavior Therapy 

ICD-11 Model and Instruments for Dimensional Assessment of Personality Disorder 

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment to Evaluate Personality Constructs

Cultural Mistrust and Psychological Assessment: A Nuanced Look at Paranoia Scores

Annual Update on Experimental and Neurophysiological Rorschach Research

Clinical Advances with the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale-Global Rating Method (SCORS-G)

Diverse methods available for measuring personality functioning: A review and discussion of four distinct measurement methods

Walking a fine line: Talking with clients about attachment 

Advocacy within Psychological Assessment: Addressing Client Concerns and Challenging Beliefs of Clinicians and Systems

Carving Your Path: Career Development Panel

Characterizing models of psychopathology using the interpersonal circumplex

Interpersonal Assessment at Multiple Timescales: Applications and Implications

Psychological Assessment of Racial and Cultural Trauma

Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Assessments of Latin American Patients with Complex Comorbidities: A Culturally Sensitive and Relational Trauma Perspective

Evidence on the Comparative Reliability, Validity, or Utility of Rorschach Systems

Multi-Method Assessment with Narratives: Integration of Narrative-Rated Data and Respondent Self-Report to Clarify Facets of Functioning

Psychological Assessment in a Milieu-Based Psychotherapeutic Inpatient Hospital

Language as Personality

Clinical cases that illustrate the power of using the Rorschach and Thurston Cradock Test of Shame (TCTS) together

Integrating Multicultural Competencies and Social Justice into Assessment through use of the Wright-Constantine Structural Cultural Interview

Introduction to the Model, Measures, and Methods of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): Relevance for Psychological Assessment

SPAGS Presents: Working with the Personality Disorders - A How-To Guide and Case Discussion

You’re Invalid? A case discussion highlighting the complications when diversity, identity, cognitive decompensation, and validity measures collide