NIH on Schizophrenia

                     Image source - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/17239.htm

Schizophrenia is a serious brain illness. People who have it may hear voices that aren't there. They may think other people are trying to hurt them. Sometimes they don't make sense when they talk. The disorder makes it hard for them to keep a job or take care of themselves.

Symptoms of schizophrenia usually start between ages 16 and 30. Men often develop symptoms at a younger age than women. People usually do not get schizophrenia after age 45. There are three types of symptoms:

• Psychotic symptoms distort a person's thinking. These include hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that are not there), delusions (beliefs that are not true), trouble organizing thoughts, and strange movements.
• "Negative" symptoms make it difficult to show emotions and to function normally. A person may seem depressed and withdrawn.
• Cognitive symptoms affect the thought process. These include trouble using information, making decisions, and paying attention.

No one is sure what causes schizophrenia. Your genes, environment, and brain chemistry may play a role.

There is no cure. Medicine can help control many of the symptoms. You may need to try different medicines to see which works best. You should stay on your medicine for as long as your doctor recommends. Additional treatments can help you deal with your illness from day to day. These include therapy, family education, rehabilitation, and skills training.

NIH: National Institute of Mental Health

Source - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/schizophrenia.html

Additional link - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000928.htm 

ICD 10 on Schizophrenia, Schizotypal and Delusional Disorders

                     
                   Image source http://www.imcanz.com.au/Images/community/Schizophrenia.jpg

International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) Version for 2010

Chapter V
Mental and behavioural disorders
(F00-F99)

Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders
(F20-F29)

This block brings together schizophrenia, as the most important member of the group, schizotypal disorder, persistent delusional disorders, and a larger group of acute and transient psychotic disorders. Schizoaffective disorders have been retained here in spite of their controversial nature.

F20Schizophrenia

The schizophrenic disorders are characterized in general by fundamental and characteristic distortions of thinking and perception, and affects that are inappropriate or blunted. Clear consciousness and intellectual capacity are usually maintained although certain cognitive deficits may evolve in the course of time. The most important psychopathological phenomena include thought echo; thought insertion or withdrawal; thought broadcasting; delusional perception and delusions of control; influence or passivity; hallucinatory voices commenting or discussing the patient in the third person; thought disorders and negative symptoms.

The course of schizophrenic disorders can be either continuous, or episodic with progressive or stable deficit, or there can be one or more episodes with complete or incomplete remission. The diagnosis of schizophrenia should not be made in the presence of extensive depressive or manic symptoms unless it is clear that schizophrenic symptoms antedate the affective disturbance. Nor should schizophrenia be diagnosed in the presence of overt brain disease or during states of drug intoxication or withdrawal. Similar disorders developing in the presence of epilepsy or other brain disease should be classified under F06.2, and those induced by psychoactive substances under F10-F19 with common fourth character .5.

Excl.:

schizophrenia:

• acute (undifferentiated) (F23.2)
• cyclic (F25.2)

schizophrenic reaction (F23.2)

schizotypal disorder (F21)

F20.0Paranoid schizophrenia

Paranoid schizophrenia is dominated by relatively stable, often paranoid delusions, usually accompanied by hallucinations, particularly of the auditory variety, and perceptual disturbances. Disturbances of affect, volition and speech, and catatonic symptoms, are either absent or relatively inconspicuous.

Paraphrenic schizophrenia

Excl.:

involutional paranoid state (F22.8)

paranoia (F22.0)

F20.1Hebephrenic schizophrenia

A form of schizophrenia in which affective changes are prominent, delusions and hallucinations fleeting and fragmentary, behaviour irresponsible and unpredictable, and mannerisms common. The mood is shallow and inappropriate, thought is disorganized, and speech is incoherent. There is a tendency to social isolation. Usually the prognosis is poor because of the rapid development of "negative" symptoms, particularly flattening of affect and loss of volition. Hebephrenia should normally be diagnosed only in adolescents or young adults.

Disorganized schizophrenia

Hebephrenia

F20.2Catatonic schizophrenia

Catatonic schizophrenia is dominated by prominent psychomotor disturbances that may alternate between extremes such as hyperkinesis and stupor, or automatic obedience and negativism. Constrained attitudes and postures may be maintained for long periods. Episodes of violent excitement may be a striking feature of the condition. The catatonic phenomena may be combined with a dream-like (oneiroid) state with vivid scenic hallucinations.

Catatonic stupor

Schizophrenic:

• catalepsy
• catatonia
• flexibilitas cerea

F20.3Undifferentiated schizophrenia

Psychotic conditions meeting the general diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia but not conforming to any of the subtypes in F20.0-F20.2, or exhibiting the features of more than one of them without a clear predominance of a particular set of diagnostic characteristics.

Atypical schizophrenia

Excl.:

acute schizophrenia-like psychotic disorder (F23.2)

chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia (F20.5)

post-schizophrenic depression (F20.4)

F20.4Post-schizophrenic depression

A depressive episode, which may be prolonged, arising in the aftermath of a schizophrenic illness. Some schizophrenic symptoms, either "positive" or "negative", must still be present but they no longer dominate the clinical picture. These depressive states are associated with an increased risk of suicide. If the patient no longer has any schizophrenic symptoms, a depressive episode should be diagnosed (F32.-). If schizophrenic symptoms are still florid and prominent, the diagnosis should remain that of the appropriate schizophrenic subtype (F20.0-F20.3).

F20.5Residual schizophrenia

A chronic stage in the development of a schizophrenic illness in which there has been a clear progression from an early stage to a later stage characterized by long- term, though not necessarily irreversible, "negative" symptoms, e.g. psychomotor slowing; underactivity; blunting of affect; passivity and lack of initiative; poverty of quantity or content of speech; poor nonverbal communication by facial expression, eye contact, voice modulation and posture; poor self-care and social performance.

Chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia

Restzustand (schizophrenic)

Schizophrenic residual state

F20.6Simple schizophrenia

A disorder in which there is an insidious but progressive development of oddities of conduct, inability to meet the demands of society, and decline in total performance. The characteristic negative features of residual schizophrenia (e.g. blunting of affect and loss of volition) develop without being preceded by any overt psychotic symptoms.

F20.8Other schizophrenia

Cenesthopathic schizophrenia

Schizophreniform:

• disorder NOS
• psychosis NOS

Excl.:

brief schizophreniform disorders (F23.2)

F20.9Schizophrenia, unspecified

F21Schizotypal disorder

A disorder characterized by eccentric behaviour and anomalies of thinking and affect which resemble those seen in schizophrenia, though no definite and characteristic schizophrenic anomalies occur at any stage. The symptoms may include a cold or inappropriate affect; anhedonia; odd or eccentric behaviour; a tendency to social withdrawal; paranoid or bizarre ideas not amounting to true delusions; obsessive ruminations; thought disorder and perceptual disturbances; occasional transient quasi-psychotic episodes with intense illusions, auditory or other hallucinations, and delusion-like ideas, usually occurring without external provocation. There is no definite onset and evolution and course are usually those of a personality disorder.

Incl.:

Latent schizophrenic reaction

Schizophrenia:

• borderline
• latent
• prepsychotic
• prodromal
• pseudoneurotic
• pseudopsychopathic

Schizotypal personality disorder

Excl.:

Asperger syndrome (F84.5)

schizoid personality disorder (F60.1)

F22Persistent delusional disorders

Includes a variety of disorders in which long-standing delusions constitute the only, or the most conspicuous, clinical characteristic and which cannot be classified as organic, schizophrenic or affective. Delusional disorders that have lasted for less than a few months should be classified, at least temporarily, under F23.-.

F22.0Delusional disorder

A disorder characterized by the development either of a single delusion or of a set of related delusions that are usually persistent and sometimes lifelong. The content of the delusion or delusions is very variable. Clear and persistent auditory hallucinations (voices), schizophrenic symptoms such as delusions of control and marked blunting of affect, and definite evidence of brain disease are all incompatible with this diagnosis. However, the presence of occasional or transitory auditory hallucinations, particularly in elderly patients, does not rule out this diagnosis, provided that they are not typically schizophrenic and form only a small part of the overall clinical picture.

Paranoia

Paranoid:

• psychosis
• state

Paraphrenia (late)

Sensitiver Beziehungswahn

Excl.:

paranoid:

• personality disorder (F60.0)
• psychosis, psychogenic (F23.3)
• reaction (F23.3)
• schizophrenia (F20.0)

F22.8Other persistent delusional disorders

Disorders in which the delusion or delusions are accompanied by persistent hallucinatory voices or by schizophrenic symptoms that do not justify a diagnosis of schizophrenia (F20.-).

Delusional dysmorphophobia

Involutional paranoid state

Paranoia querulans

F22.9Persistent delusional disorder, unspecified

F23Acute and transient psychotic disorders

A heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by the acute onset of psychotic symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and perceptual disturbances, and by the severe disruption of ordinary behaviour. Acute onset is defined as a crescendo development of a clearly abnormal clinical picture in about two weeks or less. For these disorders there is no evidence of organic causation. Perplexity and puzzlement are often present but disorientation for time, place and person is not persistent or severe enough to justify a diagnosis of organically caused delirium (F05.-). Complete recovery usually occurs within a few months, often within a few weeks or even days. If the disorder persists, a change in classification will be necessary. The disorder may or may not be associated with acute stress, defined as usually stressful events preceding the onset by one to two weeks.

F23.0Acute polymorphic psychotic disorder without symptoms of schizophrenia

An acute psychotic disorder in which hallucinations, delusions or perceptual disturbances are obvious but markedly variable, changing from day to day or even from hour to hour. Emotional turmoil with intense transient feelings of happiness or ecstasy, or anxiety and irritability, is also frequently present. The polymorphism and instability are characteristic for the overall clinical picture and the psychotic features do not justify a diagnosis of schizophrenia (F20.-). These disorders often have an abrupt onset, developing rapidly within a few days, and they frequently show a rapid resolution of symptoms with no recurrence. If the symptoms persist the diagnosis should be changed to persistent delusional disorder (F22.-).

Bouffée délirante without symptoms of schizophrenia or unspecified

Cycloid psychosis without symptoms of schizophrenia or unspecified

F23.1Acute polymorphic psychotic disorder with symptoms of schizophrenia

An acute psychotic disorder in which the polymorphic and unstable clinical picture is present, as described in F23.0; despite this instability, however, some symptoms typical of schizophrenia are also in evidence for the majority of the time. If the schizophrenic symptoms persist the diagnosis should be changed to schizophrenia (F20.-).

Bouffée délirante with symptoms of schizophrenia

Cycloid psychosis with symptoms of schizophrenia

F23.2Acute schizophrenia-like psychotic disorder

An acute psychotic disorder in which the psychotic symptoms are comparatively stable and justify a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but have lasted for less than about one month; the polymorphic unstable features, as described in F23.0, are absent. If the schizophrenic symptoms persist the diagnosis should be changed to schizophrenia (F20.-).

Acute (undifferentiated) schizophrenia

Brief schizophreniform:

• disorder
• psychosis

Oneirophrenia

Schizophrenic reaction

Excl.:

organic delusional [schizophrenia-like] disorder (F06.2)

schizophreniform disorders NOS (F20.8)

F23.3Other acute predominantly delusional psychotic disorders

Acute psychotic disorders in which comparatively stable delusions or hallucinations are the main clinical features, but do not justify a diagnosis of schizophrenia (F20.-). If the delusions persist the diagnosis should be changed to persistent delusional disorder (F22.-).

Paranoid reaction

Psychogenic paranoid psychosis

F23.8Other acute and transient psychotic disorders

Any other specified acute psychotic disorders for which there is no evidence of organic causation and which do not justify classification to F23.0-F23.3.

F23.9Acute and transient psychotic disorder, unspecified

Brief reactive psychosis NOS

Reactive psychosis

F24Induced delusional disorder

A delusional disorder shared by two or more people with close emotional links. Only one of the people suffers from a genuine psychotic disorder; the delusions are induced in the other(s) and usually disappear when the people are separated.

Incl.:

Folie à deux

Induced:

• paranoid disorder
• psychotic disorder

F25Schizoaffective disorders

Episodic disorders in which both affective and schizophrenic symptoms are prominent but which do not justify a diagnosis of either schizophrenia or depressive or manic episodes. Other conditions in which affective symptoms are superimposed on a pre-existing schizophrenic illness, or co-exist or alternate with persistent delusional disorders of other kinds, are classified under F20-F29. Mood-incongruent psychotic symptoms in affective disorders do not justify a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder.

F25.0Schizoaffective disorder, manic type

A disorder in which both schizophrenic and manic symptoms are prominent so that the episode of illness does not justify a diagnosis of either schizophrenia or a manic episode. This category should be used for both a single episode and a recurrent disorder in which the majority of episodes are schizoaffective, manic type.

Schizoaffective psychosis, manic type

Schizophreniform psychosis, manic type

F25.1Schizoaffective disorder, depressive type

A disorder in which both schizophrenic and depressive symptoms are prominent so that the episode of illness does not justify a diagnosis of either schizophrenia or a depressive episode. This category should be used for both a single episode and a recurrent disorder in which the majority of episodes are schizoaffective, depressive type.

Schizoaffective psychosis, depressive type

Schizophreniform psychosis, depressive type

F25.2Schizoaffective disorder, mixed type

Cyclic schizophrenia

Mixed schizophrenic and affective psychosis

F25.8Other schizoaffective disorders

F25.9Schizoaffective disorder, unspecified

Schizoaffective psychosis NOS

F28Other nonorganic psychotic disorders

Delusional or hallucinatory disorders that do not justify a diagnosis of schizophrenia (F20.-), persistent delusional disorders (F22.-), acute and transient psychotic disorders (F23.-), psychotic types of manic episode (F30.2), or severe depressive episode (F32.3).

Incl.:

Chronic hallucinatory psychosis

F29Unspecified nonorganic psychosis

Incl.:

Psychosis NOS

Excl.:

mental disorder NOS (F99)

organic or symptomatic psychosis NOS (F09)

The Brain A User's Guide to Emotion

Step-by-step Tutorial for the PRC Online Application for Psychometrician Licensure Exam

NEW UPDATE

(As of March 11, 2014) - Although the Psychometrician option is available on the drop down menu at PRC's online application, a friend verified at the PRC that it is not yet functional or operational, hope soon!)

(March 4, 2014) - Online Application for Licensure Examination of Psychometrician now Available - check procedure below or visit this link -

 

  http://www.prc.gov.ph/online/application/

Well for those among you who are excited like me in taking the licensure exam I might as well share some info here that I hope will be helpful. Particularly beneficial to some of our readers who are in far flung areas away from the Professional Regulation Commission Office and Regional offices. It is not easy to call PRC especially perhaps with the thousands of clients they deal with (hope they install more phones and employ more staff to answer public calls). Well also, it is the challenge of those of us doing self-review, unlike when you join a review center your life would be lot more easier and you be lot more informed (some review centers would facilitate processing their reviewers application), so for those wanting a list of review centers check this link  http://psychometricpinas.blogspot.com/p/pyschology-review-centers.html - I have not availed any of these review centers services, since this blog serves to inform so we are providing this list - which needs to be updated. 

After several calls I was able to talk to a lady at the of the Application for Examination Unit at PRC. She informed me that it might be August when they will have the Psychometrician online application ready. I just hope it is not true, hope they will not make examinees cram applying so close the examination date.

So for those who have access to the internet, here are steps, a sort of tutorial (but for now until close the exam date try to regularly monitor PRC website for announcements) on how to do go about the online application for the Psychometrician Licensure Exam or board exam this coming October 28 and 29, 2014. I learned that there's no use of lining up at PRC if you have not accomplished the online application. 

So apply first online and then visit PRC office near you.

Tutorial for online application for Psychometrician Licensure Exam

Step 1- Visit  http://prc.gov.ph/default.aspx

Step 2- Click Online Application System (orange box topmost right column under Quick Links

Step 3 - Upon clicking you will land to a page with this link - http://prc.gov.ph/online/application/

Step 4 - Click Next - a new page will appear about Documentary Requirements and How to Apply

   Documentary requirements read more here  -  check below or check from this site -

   http://www.prc.gov.ph/uploaded/documents/respirequirements.pdf

  Tips on how to apply - check also below this post.

                  

Step 5 - Click next - a new page appears -  on Terms and conditions (refer below this post of the text) - be sure to check the box -  I have fully read and  fully understood...

Step 6 - Click continue - a new page will appear - the online form

 

 

Name of Exam - click down menu scroll - look for Psychometrician (as of writing 28 February 2014 - is not yet available)

- and provide the rest of the information needed

- fill all necessary info needed especially those with asterisk (you will be prompted should you missed any info)

Step 7 - Click Save, then you will get the following information

 

Successful Your application was submitted successfully

We received your application for licensure examination!

The following information was successfully submitted:

Applicant name

Birth date

Examination name

Examination date

Examination place

 

 

You may now proceed to the nearest PRC Regional Office for the processing of your application. Bring all the necessary documentary requirements.

By the way some folks made online  video tutorial at YOUTUBE plus a news, these vids might be helpful check them here:

 

PRC ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM (OAS) Instruction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI7gYF0yvlA

Trip to the PRC: Board Exam Registration Walkthrough

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R8XtM_Pxp0

News in 2012 about the online system

24oras: Online application para sa PRC licensure exams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD5_93L_JWA

Some Detailed information from PRC website

 

Documentary Requirements

Original and photocopies of Transcript of Records with Special Order and Date of Graduation, with scanned pictures and with remarks “FOR BOARD EXAMINATION PURPOSES ONLY”. Graduates of government schools and institutions/programs accredited by recognized accredited agencies under the FAAP are exempted from SO. Graduates of New Schools/Degree Programs must submit School Recognition and/or Permit to Operate.

Original and photocopy of NSO-issued Birth Certificate (if NSO copy is not clear, bring copy from the Local Civil Registrar)

For married females, original and photocopies of NSO-issued Marriage Contract (if NSO copy is not clear, bring copy from Local Civil Registrar)

Two (2) passport-size colored pictures with white background and complete name tag

Current Community Tax Certificate (Cedula)

Other specific requirements as required by the Commission or the Professional Regulatory Board.

How to Apply

Before filling out your application form, please take time to read the following instructions and tips:

Accomplish the one-page application form by filling out all of the blank fields in the application form. Fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are required. Submission will not be successful until all required fields are properly accomplished.

TIPS:

Use the scrollbar to select the desired option (ex. name of examination, date, place, etc.)

Click the magnifier  Search icon to search for specific information such as city/municipality, school name and degree/course. When the search result is shown, click on the desired information to select the same. Use simple keywords when searching (ex. to seach for Don Mariano Marcos State University-Bambang Campus, type "mariano" or "bambang").

Dates are entered in a specific format "mm/dd/yyyy" (ex. date of birth "01/30/1980")

For applicants without a middle name, just key in a period (.)

For SPLBE applicants without Cedula, you may use your passport number.

When the encoding is completed, click the Save button, and then OK. A notification message will appear on screen confirming that you have successfully submitted your application. A similar notification will be sent to your email (if you provided your email address).

Proceed to the nearest PRC Office and present all the documentary requirements for assessment, payment of prescribed fees and issuance of Notice of Admission (NOA), BEFORE the deadline for application.

Click Next to view the terms and conditions on the use of this facility.

Terms and Conditions

Because the PRC would like to serve you better, we are bringing one of our services on the Net–the PRC Online Application System. The OAS website provides service to you, subject to the following Terms and Conditions, which may be updated by the PRC from time to time without prior notice. You can review the most current version of the Terms and Conditions any time at this site. Please read this page carefully. By using this site, you are indicating your conformity to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

Previous data entries will be automatically cancelled if you have multiple data entries.

No application shall be accepted after the deadline.

Payment will be forfeited if you are not qualified to take the examination.

Applications submitted without payment and required documents will not be included in the official list.

I have read and fully understood the instructions and I fully agree with the terms and conditions governing the Professional Regulation Commission's online application for licensure examination.

 

 

 

 

Capgras delusion (or Capgras syndrome)

From wikipedia:

The Capgras delusion (or Capgras syndrome) (pron: kăhp′grah IPA:/kap·'grɑ:/)^[1] is a disorder in which a person holds a delusionthat a friend, spouse, parent, or other close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor. The Capgras delusion is classified as a delusional misidentification syndrome, a class of delusional beliefs that involves the misidentification of people, places, or objects (usually not in conjunction).^[2] It can occur in acute, transient, or chronic forms. Cases in which patients hold the belief that time has been "warped" or "substituted" have also been reported.^[3]

The delusion most commonly occurs in patients diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but has also been seen in patients suffering from brain injury^[4] and dementia.^[5] It presents often in individuals with a neurodegenerative disease, particularly at an older age.^[6] It has also been reported as occurring in association with diabetes, hypothyroidism andmigraine attacks.^[7] In one isolated case, the Capgras delusion was temporarily induced in a healthy subject by the drug ketamine.^[8] It occurs more frequently in females, with a female:male ratio of 3:2.^[9]

The information gathered from studying people with the Capgras delusion has theoretical implications for understanding face perception and neuroanatomy in both healthy and unhealthy individuals.^[2]

Link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_delusion

Notes from the video:

Visual
- a person see - stimulus  reaches the temporal lobe - then there is identification - then it reaches - the amygdala - gateway to the limbic system - that contains the emotional system of  the brain - response to what we look at ( When you see your mom you have love and veneration - an emotion created)

- but for those with rupture of vein connecting to the amygdala (had a car accident and suffered severe head trauma/concussion) - the information processed - but no appropriate response or it is missing - no emotional connection (seeing mother that recognize to looks like mom - but believed to be an impostor)

Auditory
- but when a person suffering from capgras delusion is called over the phone  - the person could identify/recognized the voice and would have proper emotional connection/response to the person talked to (but not seeing just hearing). The auditory nerve has different pathway to the amygdala so a sufferer of capgras delusion will have an appropriate response to an auditory stimulus, voice of loved ones could be identified with an appropriate emotion.

"Closely link is the intellectual view of the world to your basic emotional reaction to the world" - Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UCSD

The “New Psychometrics” – Item ResponseTheory

Classical test theory is concerned with the reliability of a test and assumes that the items

within the test are sampled at random from a domain of relevant items. Reliability is seen

as a characteristic of the test and of the variance of the trait it measures. Items are treated

as random replicates of each other and their characteristics, if examined at all, are expressed

as correlations with total test score or as factor loadings on the putative latent variable(s) of

interest. Characteristics of their properties are not analyzed in detail. This led Mellenbergh

(1996) to the distinction between theories of tests (Lord and Novick, 1968) and a theories

of items (Lord, 1952; Rasch, 1960). The so-called “New Psychometrics” (Embretson and

Hershberger, 1999; Embretson and Reise, 2000; Van der Linden and Hambleton, 1997) is a

theory of how people respond to items and is known as Item Response Theory or IRT. Over

the past twenty years there has been explosive growth in programs that can do IRT, and

within R there are at least four very powerful packages: eRm (Mair and Hatzinger, 2007),

ltm Rizopoulos(2006), lme4 (Doran et al., 2007) and MiscPsycho, (Doran, 2010). Additional

packages include mokken (van der Ark, 2010) to do non-metric IRT and plink (Weeks, 2010)

to link multiple groups together. More IRT packages are being added all of the time.

Topics covered:

Chapter 8 - The “New Psychometrics” – Item ResponseTheory

Chapter 9 - Validity

Chapter 10 - Reliability + Validity = Structural Equation Models

Source link - http://bit.ly/1hJT9FL

Use Wikipedia as your Review Material for Psychometrician Licensure Exam

(Image Source - http://us.123rf.com/450wm/radiantskies/radiantskies1301/radiantskies130101036/17197657-abstract-word-cloud-for-validity-with-related-tags-and-terms.jpg)

Wikipedia is definitely the most accessible source of information too many of us with internet connection. Who needs books and text book anyway? But of course the academe will frown on you if you would insist on using wikipedia alone and not the scientific canon! So for psychometrician licensure exam reviewers, to resolve such issue, it is always good to check and refer back to your text books.  Make sure though that you also get the latest  text book at least published 3-5 years back. Psychology is a dynamic field of study that continue to evolve with the latest discoveries and scientific researches.

This is where wikipedia comes handy, the content is updated instantaneously, unlike books that will take time to get revised, but now online versions of text books  (e-books) are also now available and you can get updated version from the sites of the publishers, well the disadvantage of course is the costs.

Just to cite an example, in college in the 1990s, 2-3 decades ago, validity has a different meaning with what has evolved in late 20th century (makes me feel so ancient like a dinosaur). So there is now a different reinterpretation of test validity: a traditional view/classical models and current view/modern models  for validity as it is used and understood in psychological testing.

So compare Test Validity on:

• wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_validity

• with what is on your textbook - (? year)

• and that of a later  version of textbook say by Miller, McIntire, Lovler (2011), citing  the studies of Brennan, Kane, Goodwin and Leech among others.

• or even a powerpoint presentation Psychometric Principles by Professor John Rust Powerpoint Presentation for the Summer School 2009, Professor John Rust, University of Cambridge  http://psychometricpinas.blogspot.com/2014/01/psychometric-principles-by-professor.html 

• well even the text book by Philippine authors Munarriz and Cervera (2013) still discussed the classical model on test validity.

But then again it is good to know both models, the old and the new and application-wise we would know better which should prevail and more appropriate as concept and in our practice.

So my advise, maximize your internet access and read/review using wikipedia, but double check and refer back to your text book and make sure you get to compare it with a later edition. Supplement your readings with what other materials you can find online from the website of psych organizations (PAP, APA, etc), free online journals, scientific articles, and of course this blog, and even facebook, etc.

And to have some focus on what to read and review refer to this older blog post -
http://psychometricpinas.blogspot.com/p/chedcourse-specification.html


Happy reviewing!

Share your review strategies and materials as well!