
The Psychology Corner on Mental Health @ Home includes the What Is… series and a collection of (mostly) scientifically-validated psychological tests.
Table of Contents
What Is… Insights Into Psychology Series
The weekly What Is… Insights Into Psychology series explores the meaning of a wide range of terms that come from the field of psychology, psychiatry, and other related (and sometimes unrelated) areas.
Here’s an alphabetized list of terms covered so far, with the following tags to make things easier to pick out:
- (cognitive bias/heuristic)
- (diagnosis)
- (personality trait/disorder)
- (therapy & therapy tools)
- Adaptive vs. maladaptive coping strategies
- Addictive personality (personality-related)
- Alexithymia (personality trait)
- Anal triad in psychoanalytic theory (personality traits)
- Anosognosia
- Asocial vs. antisocial, antisocial personality disorder (diagnosis) (personality disorder)
- Anxiety vs worry
- Apophenia and pareidolia – finding patterns in unrelated/random things
- Assertiveness
- Attachment theory
- Attention
- Attribution theory
- Atypical depression (diagnosis)
- Autistic burnout
- Autonomy
- Avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) (diagnosis) (personality disorder)
- Avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) (diagnosis)
- Behavioural experiment in CBT (therapy)
- Belief perseverance (cognitive bias/heuristic)
- Borderline personality disorder (BPD) (diagnosis) (personality disorder)
- Boundaries
- Burnout
- Cancel culture
- CBT for pain (cognitive behavioural therapy) (therapy)
- CBT-E (enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy for eating disorder) (therapy)
- CBT-i (cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia) (therapy)
- Codependency
- Cognitive biases (cognitive bias/heuristic)
- Cognitive dissonance
- Cognitive mapping
- Cognitive remediation
- Compassion-Focused Therapy (therapy)
- Competitiveness (personality trait)
- Concept creep
- Conformity
- Conspiracy theories — the psychology behind them
- Constructs
- Consumer culture
- Containment (therapy)
- Conversion disorder (diagnosis)
- Critical thinking
- Cuteness—why we react the way we do to cute babies
- Dark triad/tetrad: psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism (personality traits)
- DARVO response to sexual assault allegations: Deny; Accuse; Reverse Victim and Offender
- Defense mechanisms
- Deindividuation
- Delusional disorder (diagnosis)
- Dependent personality disorder (diagnosis) (personality disorder)
- Diathesis-stress model
- Diving reflex: this related to the DBT TIPP skill temperature (therapy tools)
- Double depression (diagnosis-related)
- Dunning-Kruger effect (cognitive bias/heuristic)
- Ego syntonic & ego dystonic thoughts/feelings/behaviours
- Emetophobia (diagnosis)
- Emotion
- Emotional Abuse
- Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
- Emotional intelligence
- Enmeshment
- Empathy: cognitive vs. emotional
- Enneagram (personality-related)
- Euphemism treadmill
- Eustress vs. distress
- Executive functioning
- Exposure and response prevention (ERP) (therapy)
- False pregnancy (pseudocyesis) (diagnosis)
- Five-factor model of personality (the Big Five) (personality traits)
- Folie à deux (shared psychotic disorder) (diagnosis)
- FOMO (fear of missing out)
- Frequency illusion (Baader-Meinhof phenomenon)
- Herd behaviour
- Heuristic (cognitive bias/heuristic)
- Histrionic personality disorder (diagnosis)(personality disorder)
- Hope/hopelessness
- Illusion of causality (cognitive bias)
- Illusory truth effect (cognitive bias/heuristic)
- Innate vs. acquired characteristics
- Inner child
- Insanity
- Intergenerational trauma
- Internal Family Systems therapy (therapy)
- Invalidation
- IQ (intelligence quotient)
- 12 Irrational beliefs and 3 major musts from Albert Ellis (therapy concept)
- Jealousy & envy
- Judgementality
- Just world fallacy (fallacy of fairness) (cognitive bias/heuristic)
- Kleptomania (diagnosis)
- Learned helplessness and Seligman’s theory of depression
- Locus of control
- Logical fallacy
- Malingering
- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- ME/CFS — myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome is NOT all in one’s head (diagnosis)
- Melancholia (diagnosis-related)
- Memory & amnesia
- Mentalization (and mentalization-based therapy)
- Moral typecasting
- Moralization: turning preferences into values
- Motivation: intrinsic vs. extrinsic
- Motivational interviewing (therapeutic communication)
- Munchausen by proxy (factitious disorder imposed on another) (diagnosis)
- Narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder (diagnosis) (personality trait/disorder)
- Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)
- Neuroplasticity
- Neuroticism (personality trait)
- Nonsuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI)
- Obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) (diagnosis) (personality disorder)
- Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) (diagnosis)
- Paranoia and paranoid delusions (diagnosis-related)
- Paranoid personality disorder (diagnosis) (personality disorder)
- Paraphilic disorders (diagnoses)
- Paruresis (shy bladder syndrome) – a form of social anxiety disorder (diagnosis)
- Perfectionism
- Personality trait vs. disorder (diagnosis-related) (personality trait/disorder)
- Philosophical razor (e.g. Occam’s razor)
- Pluralistic ignorance (cognitive bias/heuristic)
- Polyvagal theory
- Pop psychology
- Psychoanalytic theory
- Psychodynamic psychotherapy (therapy)
- Psychological testing
- Psychology of advertising
- Psychology of tyranny
- Psychology of war atrocities
- Psychomotor retardation (diagnosis-related)
- Psychopathy (personality)
- Rational emotive behaviour therapy (therapy)
- Reactance
- Reactive attachment disorder (diagnosis)
- Reading—how it’s affected by psychology
- Recovery (psychosocial)
- Reductionism and mental illness
- Rejection sensitive dysphoria
- Repression and suppression
- Resilience
- Resting bitch face
- Rumination
- Safety behaviour in CBT (therapy concept)
- Schema therapy (therapy)
- Schizoid & schizotypal personality disorders (diagnoses) (personality disorders)
- Seasonal affective disorder (diagnosis-related)
- Selective mutism (diagnosis)
- Self-efficacy
- Self-esteem
- Self-verification theory
- Selfies—the psychology behind them
- Selfishness
- Sex vs. gender
- Shame and guilt
- Shame compass
- Sleep and dreaming
- Social isolation
- STAIR narrative therapy
- Stanford prison experiment
- Stockholm syndrome (trauma bonding)
- Stoicism
- Stress bucket model
- Thought-Action Fusion
- Transactional analysis (a psychoanalytic technique) (therapy)
- Trauma vs PTSD (diagnosis-related)
- Trolling
- Ultra rapid cycling in bipolar disorder (diagnosis-related)
- Unconditional positive regard
- Window of tolerance
- Wounded healer (Jungian archetype)
Psychological Testing
A good question can get you thinking about yourself in ways that never might have crossed your mind before. A psychological test can promote self-reflection and may help you gain insights into your mental health patterns over time. This page includes a range of tests related to mental health that will hopefully help get you thinking.
How to use & interpret psychological tests
Psychometric tests are used for a wide variety of purposes, including research or clinical. What sets scientifically developed tests apart from a quiz you take on a random internet site is validation, which ensures that the test actually measures what it’s supposed to.
This page consists mostly of scientifically validated scales, with a few exceptions. That means they’re not necessarily designed for ease of use, and may not calculate scores for you. However, for personal use, scores are far less relevant than the cues they can provide for self-reflection.
Psychological tests can’t diagnose you
Psychological tests capture a snapshot of a particular aspect of you at a given point in time. Diagnosis of an illness requires far more context and nuance, but the snapshot can serve as a jumping-off point. The key is to be open with your treatment provider. The better they can understand what you’re going through, the more accurate an assessment they can make.
Screening tests are intended to cast a wide net and capture people who might have a condition. They put you in a general ballpark, but they can’t, nor are they intended to, get any more specific than that.
Other places to find mental health tests
Here are a few places you can go to find tests that are designed with you, the user, in mind:
- Greater Good Magazine has quizzes on topics like gratitude, mindfulness, empathy, and altruism
- HealthyPlace: screening tests
- Mental Health America: screening tests
- PsychCentral has quizzes related to a variety of mental health topics

Tests
Psychiatric Diagnoses
The Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Inventory (ISMI) measures self-stigma related to mental illness.
Addictions
- Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire: problematic internet use hasn’t (yet) been identified as a diagnosis, but there are indications that it’s a form of behavioural addiction; click on “run a demo” to take the test
- Processes of Change Questionnaire: scales specifically for alcohol, drugs, and smoking; measures experiential and behavioural change processes
- Self-Efficacy Scale: scales for alcohol, drugs, and smoking related to self-efficacy
- Situation Temptation Scale: measures temptation in the areas of negative mood, social/positive situations, cravings, and physical concerns, with scales for alcohol, drugs, and smoking
Anxiety
- GAD-7: Generalized anxiety disorder screener
- HAM-A: Hamilton Anxiety Scale
- PSWQ: Penn State Worry Questionnaire
- Severity Measure for Agoraphobia – Adult: track agoraphobia symptoms over the past week
- Severity Measure for Panic Disorder – Adult: track panic disorder symptoms over the past week
Social anxiety:
- Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE)
- Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS)
- Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults (SAQ-A30)
- Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS-R): measures private and public self-consciousness and social anxiety
- Shyness Scale: measures shyness as a personality trait
- Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS)
- Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN)
- Social Phobia Scale (SPS)
Autism
- Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ): a 50-item screening test
- Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ-10): brief screening test
- Empathy Quotient (EQ-40): measures ability to understand what others are feeling
- Systemizing Quotient (SQ): measures drive to understand underlying rules governing a system
Borderline Personality Disorder
- Borderline Evaluation of Severity over Time (BEST): 15-item scale with sections on thoughts/feelings, negative behaviours, and positive behaviours
- Borderline Symptom List (BSL-23 & BSL-95): comes in short/long versions
- DBT Ways of Coping Checklist (DBT-WCCL): looks at strategies that you’re used recently to cope with stressful situations
- Reasons for Living Scale (short form and long form): not only for BPD; it looks at things that might stop you from acting on suicidal thoughts
Depression
- Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)
- Clinically Useful Depression Outcome Scale (CUDOS): questions are a close match to the DSM-5 symptoms of depression
- Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS): measures both depression and anxiety
- Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D)
- Patient Health Questionnaire: commonly used screening test (PHQ-9)
- Quick Inventory of Depression Symptomatology Self-Report (QIDS-SR)
- Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ): this isn’t scored, and filling it out won’t give you new information, but going through it can help you to reflect on how your illness varies throughout the year
Postpartum:
OCD
- Obsessive Compulsive Inventory short form (OCI-R)
- Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity (PIOS): measures psychological discomfort arising from the belief that one is sinful
PTSD & Dissociation
- Cambridge Depersonalization Scale
- Dissociative Subtype of PTSD Scale (DSPS): measures the prominence of dissociative symptoms in PTSD
- Posttraumatic Maladaptive Beliefs Scale (PMBS)
- PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5)
- PTSD Scale-Self Report for DSM-5 (PSS-SR5)
Avoidance & Coping Behaviours
Avoidance:
- Avoidance Strategy Questionnaire (ASQ): looks at how you would respond to an unwelcome request from your partner
- Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ): focuses on avoidance related to pain
- Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ): broken down into several scales — behavioural avoidance, distress aversion, procrastination, distraction & suppression, repression & denial, and distress endurance
- Procrastination Cognitions Inventory
- Subtle Avoidance Frequency Examination (SAFE): looks at avoidance behaviours in social situations
Coping:
- COPE Inventory: measures different approaches to coping,both constructive and destructive
- Coping Self-Efficacy Scale
Cognition, Thinking Styles
- Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ): measures the frequency and degree of belief of automatic negative thoughts about the self
- Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale: measures imposter syndrome
- Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS)
- IQ test: the Open-Source Psychometrics Project has a full scale IQ test (i.e. covers each of the distinct scales that make up a full IQ test)
- Need for Cognition Scale: measures the tendency to pursue and enjoy thinking
- Rational Experiential Inventory (REI): measures intuitive and logical thinking styles
- Ruminative Responses Scale: rumination is a common thinking pattern in depression
Beliefs related to control:
- Desirability of Control Scale: looks at how much you want to feel in control of what’s happening in your life (links straight to a .doc file download)
- Levenson Multidimensional Locus of Control Scales
- Locus Of Control Scale: measures how much influence you believe you have over your life
- Spheres of Control Scale (SOC-3): measures personal, interpersonal, and socio-political control
Emotions
- Alexithymia: refers to a difficulty describing emotions, which can be a personality trait or it can occur as part of an illness like depression
- Anger: Clinical Anger Questionnaire: click on “run a demo” to take the test
- Defeatedness: The Defeat Scale
- Emotional intelligence:
- The Greater Good Science Center has an interesting twist on testing emotional intelligence; it looks at whether you’re able to recognize the emotions displayed in a photo of a person’s face
- PsyTools offers a modified 33-item emotional intelligence test
- Emotional intensity: Affect Intensity Measure (AIM): strength/weaknesses of emotional experiences
- Emotional regulation: Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)
- Entrapment: The Entrapment Scale: measures both internal and external entrapment
- Guilt and shame: guilt = I did bad; shame = I am bad
- Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale
- Other As Shamer Scale: focused on how you think others see you
- The Shame Inventory
- Happiness & positive emotions
- Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
- The Fear of Happiness Scale
- Types of Positive Affect Scale: gives scores for three different types of positive emotions: active, relaxed, and safe/warm
Interpersonal
- Attachment: Measure of Attachment Qualities (MAQ): 14-item scale on attachment styles
- Cooperativeness/competitiveness: Cooperative/Competitive Strategy Scale (CCSS)
- Comparison
- Social Comparison Scale: rate yourself in comparison to others on a number of different attributes
- Strive to Avoid Inferiority Scale: measures secure and insecure striving, and fear of losing out, being overlooked, or being rejected
- Disagreement: Tolerance For Disagreement Scale (TFD)
- Loneliness: Loneliness Assessment Scale (UPLAS): click on “run a demo” to take the test
- Pleasure in social interaction: Social Safeness and Pleasure Scale
- Put-downs: Sensitivity to Put-Down: measures anxious/distressed and angry/irritable responses
- Reactivity: Interpersonal Reactivity Index
- Rejection: Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ): aimed at college students
- Social intelligence: Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS): measures social information processing, social skills, and social awareness
- Solitude: Preference for Solitude Scale: links straight to a .doc file download
- Submissiveness: The Submissive Behaviour Scale

Personality
- Big Five-based personality tests (you can find out more in this post on the five-factor model):
- Big Five Inventory: this version comes from the Fetzer Institute
- IPIP-NEO: 120-item and 300-item versionas available
- Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI): 57-item test that measures the domains of introversion/extroversion and stability/neuroticism
- Fisher Temperament Inventory: this 62-item test is based on the theory that behaviour is influenced by four key neurotransmitter systems, involving dopamine, serotonin, testosterone, and estrogen
- Open Extended Jungian Type Scales: a 60-item test based on Carl Jung’s theory of personality, which served as the basis for the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory
- Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5): measures a number of personality traits that could potentially be related to personality disorders
- Synthetic Aperture Personality Assessment (SAPA): a 250-item test that covers domains including temperament, abilities, and interests; provides scores on 27 narrow personality traits as well as the “Big Five”
- 16PF Questionnaire: Cattell’s 16 Personality Factors, which has 164 items
Specific traits & characteristics
- Dark triad: a group of personality traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) that are associated with antisocial behaviour. Related tests include:
- Short Dark Triad Scale
- Mach-IV test for Machiavellianism
- Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-16): measures subclinical narcissism, which doesn’t meet the threshold for narcissistic personality disorder
- Grit: Grit Scale – researcher Angela Duckworth defines grit as the “combination of passion and perseverance for a singularly important goal”
- Histrionic: Brief Histrionic Personality Inventory (BHPS)
- Introversion/extraversion: Multidimensional Introversion–Extraversion Scale
- Resilience: ER-89 Ego Resiliency Scale: looks at longer-term trait resilience rather than state resilience at the present time
Self-Attitudes
- Aspects of Identity Questionnaire (AIQ-IV): looks at personal, relational, social, and collective identity orientations
- Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-L3): This a bit complicated. The YSL measures 18 early maladaptive schemas (you can find the schema list here). Only the older L3 version is available free, and you’ll have to manually score and analyze it. Note that, for example, after question #9 is the notation “*ed“. That means the block of questions from #1-9 relate to schema ed, which is emotional deprivation. Then after question #26 is the notation “*ab“, which means questions #10-26 relate to the ab, which is abandonment/instability.
- Self-compassion:
- Fears of Compassion Scale: measures compassion towards/from others and self-compassion
- Self-Compassion Scale (SCS)
- Self-criticism:
- Self-efficacy: General Self-Efficacy Scale
- Self-worth: Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale: measures how much self-worth is dependent on various factors
