Psychological Testing Evanston | Lumara Integrative Health

Something has shifted in the way your mind works, and you cannot quite explain it. Maybe your memory is less reliable than it used to be. Maybe you sit down to read or write and the words will not hold still. Maybe you have always struggled with organization and follow-through but assumed everyone felt this way, and now you are starting to wonder whether that assumption was wrong.

These kinds of questions are difficult to answer on your own, and they are rarely resolved by a single appointment or a brief screening. If you are in Evanston and looking for a thorough evaluation of how your brain is actually functioning, not just whether you meet criteria for one condition, psychological testing can offer that clarity.

This is not a checklist. It is a comprehensive process designed to understand how you think, process, remember, and function across the areas of life that matter most to you.

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Why This Work Matters

When the question is bigger than a single diagnosis

Many adults who seek psychological testing are not arriving with a clear hypothesis. They know something is off, but they are not sure whether it is attention, memory, mood, fatigue, stress, or some combination they cannot untangle on their own. A thorough evaluation does not begin with an assumed answer. It maps the full cognitive and emotional picture so that whatever comes next, whether treatment, accommodations, or simply a new framework for understanding yourself, is grounded in evidence rather than guesswork.

Cognitive changes that no one has explained

You may have noticed that your thinking has changed, and no one in your medical care has been able to tell you why. This is especially common among adults living with chronic illness, sustained anxiety, trauma, or prolonged stress. Brain fog, slowed processing, word-finding difficulties, and memory lapses are real cognitive experiences, not signs of laziness or aging. Testing can identify what is contributing to those changes and give you a language for what you have been experiencing.

The value of knowing how your brain works

Psychological testing is not just about diagnosing what is wrong. It also reveals how you think at your best: where your strengths are, how you compensate, and what conditions help you function most effectively. For many adults on the North Shore, particularly those in demanding academic, professional, or caregiving roles, this kind of self-knowledge becomes a tool they return to long after the evaluation is finished.

What This Work Looks Like

Testing is a collaborative, multi-step process. It is designed to understand you in context, not to reduce you to a set of scores. Together, we explore:

Memory, processing speed, and reasoning. How efficiently your brain takes in, organizes, and retrieves information under different conditions.
Attention and executive functioning. How you manage planning, sequencing, initiation, and cognitive flexibility, and where breakdowns tend to occur.
The emotional layer. How depression, anxiety, trauma, or perfectionism may be shaping your cognitive experience in ways that are difficult to see from the inside.
The impact of health and fatigue. For adults living with chronic conditions, sleep disruption, or sustained physical stress, the evaluation accounts for the toll these take on thinking and concentration.
Strengths and strategies. Identifying what is already working and where targeted support, accommodation, or treatment could shift the most.

My Approach

Evaluation at Lumara is grounded in integrative, whole-person care. I do not treat testing as a diagnostic gatekeeping exercise. The process includes a detailed clinical interview, standardized cognitive and psychological measures, and a comprehensive written report with diagnostic impressions and recommendations tailored to your life. I look at the full interplay between cognition, emotion, health, and history, because for most adults, the picture does not reduce to a single explanation. You can read about each step of the testing process in detail on the Psychological Testing page.

How It Works for Evanston Residents

The clinical interview and feedback session are conducted via telehealth, so you can complete those from home. Formal in-person testing takes place at my office in Chicago, a short trip from Evanston. Sessions can be scheduled in one longer block or split across two shorter sessions depending on your energy, schedule, and needs. If you are specifically wondering about ADHD, that evaluation follows the same process and is available through this practice as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

A screening is a brief tool, often a questionnaire, designed to flag whether further evaluation might be warranted. Psychological testing is a comprehensive process that includes a clinical interview, standardized cognitive measures, and a detailed written report. It provides a full picture of how you are functioning, not just a yes-or-no indicator.

The clinical interview and feedback session take place via telehealth. Formal testing is conducted in person at my office in Chicago, easily accessible from the North Shore. Only the testing portion requires an in-person visit.

That is a common question, and a consultation is a good place to sort it out. Some people benefit from testing first to clarify what is going on before beginning therapy. Others start with therapy and pursue testing later when specific questions arise. We can talk through which path makes the most sense for you.

Yes. Your written report is yours to keep and can be shared with therapists, psychiatrists, primary care providers, academic institutions, or employers to support treatment planning or accommodation requests.

Start Here

If you are in Evanston and considering psychological testing to better understand how your brain works, I would be glad to talk with you about whether an evaluation is the right next step.