If you met me at work, it would be at a waiting room door or over a telehealth secure video server. This is what happens after saying hello. 👋
I’m Dr. Hall, clinical and forensic psychologist. I’ve been doing psych exams for VA benefit claims since 2008. My job is to provide an expert quality assessment to find out what’s going on mental health wise and, if there’s a clinically significant mental health condition, what caused that to occur. We’re going to take the next hour or so to document your concerns. ✍️
We go beyond a standard intake, but it’s still a mental healthcare exam. I’ve been calling this a deep dive for several years, but recently an examinee called it a lighting round. He wasn’t wrong. In fact, he was so right that we both laughed for a while about the intensity of the hour and then got back to work. I respect the process and honor the honesty most people bring to the exam. 📚
These are the steps I take to maximize the likelihood that I’m going to see a clear pattern before the hour is over. ⬇️
- Summarize the records I’ve reviewed to prepare for the conversation
- Find out about your context at work and home
- Give you the floor for you to tell me what’s going on that led you to file the claim and/or consult with a mental health provider, whatever came first
- Document any treatment history for sleep or mood, whether in behavioral health or with your doctor
- Detail your sleep pattern
- Talk about your moods during the day, good and bad
- Inquire about memory, concentration, irritability, short temper,
- Check your appetite for food, sexual interest, and suicide
- Ask you questions about things you might not think to bring up
- If the concern is PTSD, find out what happened
- Get some basic info from prior to service
We don’t have a blood test or brain scan to answer these questions, so this conversation or one similar to it, has to be done to ensure that your pattern of sleep and mood is clearly documented. Examples of how you are affected at work and home anchor your symptom list to your actual life. They support clinically reasonable diagnoses, if any.
It’s a deep dive. It’s a lightening round. I’m writing the whole time we’re talking to stay focused and to get a report written in less than 48 hours.
I’ve done over 8500 exams over 16 years in clinics throughout Los Angeles. I’ve traveled to 37 states in 42 months, Alaska 15 times, Puerto Rico twice. I’ve worked in offices and hotel conferences and in an RV equipped as a mobile medical unit.
It’s a good job. I’m honored and humbled to do it. 💙
Pamela J. Hall, Ph.D. Licensed Psychologist, CA – NM