What belongs on a list of psychological measures in outpatient practice?

Name the instrument, the domain (symptom, personality, cognitive, functioning, or outcome), what it measures, the format, and who may administer it under current publisher terms. A total is not a diagnosis. Read the publisher terms before you administer or copy.

What are the different types of psychological tests?

In this catalog the types are symptom measures, personality inventories, cognitive tests or screens, functioning or adaptive ratings, and outcome measures. Projective techniques and achievement batteries sit outside this list. Pick the type that matches the referral question, then confirm format and who may administer.

What are three tools used for psychological testing?

Three common tools from different types are the WISC-V for child intellectual functioning, the MMPI-3 for personality and psychopathology, and the CAPS-5 for a clinician-administered PTSD interview. They are not interchangeable. Each has its own format and publisher qualification.

Who may administer a Pearson Level C measure?

Pearson qualifications policy says Level C tests require a high level of expertise in test interpretation. Purchase is limited to people with a doctorate in psychology, education, or a closely related field plus formal assessment training, or licensure or certification to practice in a related field, or qualifying professional-organization membership such as APA, NASP, NAN, or INS. The Qualified User remains responsible for administration, scoring, interpretation, and application of results.

When should I use a brief outpatient scale instead of this catalog?

Use the scales for mental health matrix when outpatient talk therapy already has a goal, you need one brief repeated instrument, and the job is cadence and charting. Stay on this catalog when the referral needs a named instrument by domain, including personality, cognitive, functioning, or a clinician-administered interview.

Does using a standardized measure mean I bill CPT 96130?

No. A brief score in a psychotherapy hour is not automatically a testing-evaluation service. Use the CPT 96130 psychological testing guide when the work is qualified evaluation: integrating data, interpreting standardized results, deciding, planning, and report work. Confirm credentialing and payer policy before you claim that family.

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List of Psychological Measures by Domain

Amara Collins · Therapy Workflow Editor · October 23, 2026 · 6 min read

Outline

Scroll the table sideways to view every column

Measure	Domain	What it measures	Format
PHQ-9	Symptom	Depression severity	Self-report, 9 items
GAD-7	Symptom	Anxiety severity	Self-report, 7 items
BDI-2	Symptom	Depression symptomatology	Self-report or verbal, 5 min
CAPS-5	Symptom	DSM-5 PTSD criteria	Clinician interview
MMPI-3	Personality	Personality and psychopathology	Self-report, 25 to 50 min
MCMI-IV	Personality	Adult personality patterns	Self-report, 25 to 30 min
WISC-V	Cognitive	Child intellectual functioning	Individually administered
MoCA	Cognitive	Cognitive screening	Paper or digital, clinician
Vineland-3	Functioning	Adaptive behavior	Interview or rating form
WHODAS 2.0	Functioning	Health and disability	Self, interview, or proxy
OQ-45.2	Outcome	Symptom distress and functioning	Self-report, licensed form
CORE-OM	Outcome	Wellbeing, problems, risk	Self-report, paper copy
PROMIS	Outcome	Patient-reported health domains	Short form or CAT

Use the administration column to rule out instruments that exceed your training, credentials, or the publisher’s qualification requirements.

Scroll the table sideways to view every column

Measure	Who may administer
PHQ-9	Patient self-report (PHQ Screeners)
GAD-7	Patient self-report (PHQ Screeners)
BDI-2	Pearson Level B qualified user
CAPS-5	Trained clinician, NCPTSD materials
MMPI-3	Pearson Level C qualified user
MCMI-IV	Pearson Level C qualified user
WISC-V	Pearson Level C qualified user
MoCA	Clinician following official MoCA instructions
Vineland-3	Pearson Level B qualified user
WHODAS 2.0	Self, interview, or proxy form
OQ-45.2	Licensed OQ Measures user
CORE-OM	Paper copy under CORE System Trust terms
PROMIS	HealthMeasures licensed user

Educational resource for licensed US clinicians. A score is not a diagnosis, a CPT code, or a safety plan. Confirm current publisher terms before you administer, copy, or interpret.

How to pick from this list of psychological measures

Start with the referral question, not the inventory you already own. Name the domain first: symptom load, personality and psychopathology, cognition, functioning, or outcome over time. Then match format to the hour you actually have, and stop if you do not meet the publisher’s qualification.

The Pearson qualifications policy defines the Qualified User as the person responsible for administration, scoring, interpretation, and application of results. Some tests may be administered or scored by people with less training under that user’s supervision. Level B purchase requires, among other routes, a master’s degree in psychology, education, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, social work, counseling, or a closely related field, plus formal training in ethical administration, scoring, and interpretation. Level C purchase requires a high level of expertise in test interpretation, with a doctorate plus formal training, related licensure or certification, or qualifying membership such as APA, NASP, NAN, or INS.

If outpatient talk therapy already has a goal and you only need one brief repeated instrument, use the scales for mental health matrix for cadence and charting. Stay here when the question is which named instrument fits the domain.

Types of psychological tests

Group the list of psychological measures by type before you pick a row. Different types of psychological tests answer different questions. Do not treat a 9-item depression screen as a personality inventory, and do not treat a cognitive screen as a full intellectual battery.

Symptom. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 are brief self-report severity measures from PHQ Screeners. The publisher states that the PHQ is self-administered, that PHQ-9 scores each of the 9 DSM-IV depression criteria, that GAD-7 scores 7 common anxiety symptoms, and that no permission is required to reproduce, translate, display, or distribute the screeners. Kroenke, Spitzer, and Williams validated the PHQ-9 as a brief depression severity measure. Jordan, Shedden-Mora, and Lowe describe the GAD-7 as a self-report scale used for screening, diagnosis, and severity assessment of anxiety disorder. Pearson BDI-2 is a self-report or verbally administered inventory of depression symptomatology, Qualification Level B, about 5 minutes, ages 13 through 80. The CAPS-5 is a clinician-administered PTSD interview from the National Center for PTSD; use it when the job is a structured trauma interview, then pair trauma history work with the adult trauma assessment guide.

Personality. Pearson MMPI-3 is Qualification Level C, self-report, about 25 to 50 minutes. Pearson MCMI-IV is Qualification Level C, ages 18 and older, about 25 to 30 minutes, 195 true/false items. Do not order a Level C personality inventory if you cannot meet the publisher’s purchase rule and you cannot interpret it.

Cognitive. Pearson WISC-V is an individually administered child intellectual battery, Qualification Level C. MoCA Cognition states that any clinician, care provider, or researcher can administer the MoCA by following the official administration and scoring instructions on the MoCA FAQ. Certification remains required if you interpret individual tasks, sub-scores, or cognitive domain-specific impairments.

Functioning. Pearson Vineland-3 is Qualification Level B, ages birth through 90, with interview and parent/caregiver forms and a teacher form for ages 3 to 21. WHO publishes WHODAS 2.0 as a disability assessment with self, interview, and proxy forms. Use the current WHO form and follow WHO terms before you copy or adapt.

Outcome. OQ-45.2 is a licensed self-report of symptom distress and functioning from OQ Measures. CORE System Trust holds copyright in the CORE-OM and has long allowed paper reproduction when the copy is not for profit and the copyright line stays on the page; read the current copyright and licensing terms before you copy. PROMIS measures are patient-reported health-domain instruments from HealthMeasures, on paper, short form, or computer adaptive testing, under HealthMeasures license terms.

Three tools used for psychological testing

When a colleague asks for three tools used for psychological testing, name tools from different types, not three screens from the same domain. A defensible trio from this list of psychological measures is WISC-V (cognitive), MMPI-3 (personality), and CAPS-5 (symptom interview). Write why that trio fits the referral. A PHQ-9 plus GAD-7 plus a mood app is not three types of psychological tests.

worked example Fictional adult referral, one pick

Client: Jordan, 41. Fictional. Outpatient. No current suicidal plan.

Referral question: After a fall at work, Jordan reports nightmares, low mood, and “I cannot find words in meetings.” The attorney asked for “testing.”

Domain first: Symptom interview for trauma clusters. Depression severity as a second line. Cognitive screen only if word-finding stays in the room after mood and sleep are named.

Measure picked: CAPS-5 for the trauma interview, with PHQ-9 the same week. MoCA held unless the interview still leaves a cognitive question.

Who may administer: You hold NCPTSD CAPS-5 training materials. PHQ-9 is patient self-report from PHQ Screeners. You do not hold Pearson Level C, so MMPI-3 stays off this episode.

What you will not do: You will not turn a PHQ-9 plus GAD-7 glance into a testing-evaluation claim. If a later episode needs standardized evaluation, interpretation, and a written report, that work belongs on CPT 96130 psychological testing.

Confirm who may administer

Do not photocopy a paid inventory you do not hold. Pearson Level B and Level C orders identify a Qualified User. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 are patient self-report on the PHQ Screeners site; no permission is required to reproduce, translate, display, or distribute them, and a score is still not a diagnosis. MoCA administration follows the official instructions; domain-level interpretation follows the certification rule on the FAQ. NCPTSD places CAPS-5 materials with clinicians who will administer a structured interview, not a waiting-room screen.

If you cannot name who may administer the row, you do not pick that row.

When the catalog is the wrong job

Stop this list when the hour is an active crisis, including a suicide signal. Follow the practice risk pathway. A high total is a clinical event, not a catalog row.

Stop when you need one brief outpatient scale and a repeat cadence. That selection job lives on the scales for mental health matrix.

Stop when the work is qualified testing evaluation with interpretation and a written report. Document that episode with the CPT 96130 psychological testing checklist, and keep administration time off the evaluation clock.

Keep the instrument name, date, total or summary, and one clinical next step in the chart. Do not paste copyrighted item wording into the note.

Keep the measure and next step

Draft the referral question, measure summary, and qualified next step in one note.

Draft the note →

No credit card

Assessment handoff

Fictional · Intake

Client said

I want to know which part comes first.

Draft for your review

BIRP draft: Referral question, selected measure, and next step are ready to check.

Ask about the referral →

References

Pearson Assessments. (n.d.). Qualifications policy.
Pearson Assessments. (n.d.). Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2).
Pearson Assessments. (n.d.). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3).
Pearson Assessments. (n.d.). Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV (MCMI-IV).
Pearson Assessments. (n.d.). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children | Fifth Edition (WISC-V).
Pearson Assessments. (n.d.). Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Third Edition (Vineland-3).
PHQ Screeners. (n.d.). Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) screeners.
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. W. (2001). The PHQ-9: Validity of a brief depression severity measure. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 16(9), 606–613.
Jordan, P., Shedden-Mora, M. C., & Lowe, B. (2017). Psychometric analysis of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) in primary care using modern item response theory. PLoS ONE, 12(8), Article e0182162.
National Center for PTSD. (n.d.). Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5).
MoCA Cognition. (n.d.). FAQ.
World Health Organization. (n.d.). WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0).
OQ Measures. (n.d.). OQ-45.2.
CORE System Trust. (n.d.). Information about the CORE-OM.
CORE System Trust. (n.d.). Copyright and licensing.
HealthMeasures. (n.d.). PROMIS.