‘‘Is Our Daughter Crazy or Bad?’’: A Case Study of Therapeutic Assessment with Children.Published online: 28 March 2013 � Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

‘‘Is Our Daughter Crazy or Bad?’’: A Case Study of Therapeutic Assessment with Children.Published online: 28 March 2013 � Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Francesca Fantini • Filippo Aschieri • Paolo Bertrando

Published online: 28 March 2013 � Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Abstract In this paper we present a new model of intervention with documented efficacy that combines psychological tests and assessment methods with therapeutic techniques to

promote change in clients. We will discuss Therapeutic Assessment of Children and their

families (TA-C) through the case of a 4-year-old girl, Clara, and her family. Clara’s parents

were distressed by her uncontrollable rage outbursts and feared she might be ‘‘crazy’’. The

treatment helped to shift the narrative the parents had about Clara and give new meanings

to her behaviors. We describe in detail the steps of the assessment and provide a theoretical

discussion of the therapeutic processes involved.

Keywords Assessment � Family � Children � Therapy

Within systemic therapy, skepticism about the tools and methods typical of psychological

assessment has been fostered both by the social constructionist stance that prevailed within

the field in recent year, and by prejudices about the very nature of testing, i.e., the idea that

psychological tests pertain to the domain of naı̈ve realism and tend to give an account of

clients’ problems framed in a positivistic view. In such a context, psychological assessment

is viewed as an effort to measure the ‘‘true reality’’ of clients’ problems, thereby mini-

mizing their own experiences, views, and hypotheses (Brown 1972). While this underlying

philosophy may characterize the traditional approach to psychological assessment, in

recent years new ways have been developed of integrating the tools and methods of the

assessment practice in a therapeutic and post-modern framework. This is the case of

Therapeutic Assessment (TA), a semi-structured form of brief integrative intervention

(Kaslow 2000) developed by Finn and his colleagues (Finn and Tonsager 1992, 1997; Finn

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