The Army Clinical Psychologist and the Computer,

In recent years a number of computer techniques have been developed to assist the clinical psychologist. Computers can be used to administer, score and interpret tests to file, store and sort information to print forms to maintain therapy case records to aid in clinical decisions to conduct an interview to schedule clients, therapists, equipment, and facilities to recommend psychotropic medications to predict such things as suicide risk, commitment to therapy, and therapy length to conduct therapy to perform statistical analyses and to serve as a word processor. A major portion of the paper is devoted to the advantages and disadvantages of the use of computer for these applications. A brief history of computer developments relevant to clinical psychology is followed by a discussion of current research and potential uses. Estimates of the cost of various systems and the monetary benefits of such systems are presented with a particular emphasis on the current Army situation. An investigation of available system is proposed.