FAQs

Health Psychology Associates (HPA) knows there are difficult decisions when trying to decide which service will best suit your needs. We believe it’s important to be informed with what we can offer you. Here we have provided answers to our most frequently asked questions to assist you. If you require any additional information, feel free to give us a call; we’re always happy to hear from our customers.

Q: What services do you provide?
A: HPA was designed to provide a broad range of psychological, neuropsychological and consulting services. Each provider has different specialty areas. Read our "services" section of the website to get an overview and feel free to call our main office to find out if we provide the service you are looking for or need some feedback to know what services might be of greatest benefit to you.

Q: What is neuropsychology and why would someone need it?
A: Neuropsychology is the study of the relationship between brain functioning and behavior. In clinical settings, neuropsych. evaluations are conducted for several main reasons. Most often, the testing is intended to help with diagnosis (i.e, to find out whether someone's brain functions are impaired and to help sort out why if they are). It is also used to identify what level of impairment exists in someone with a known injury or disease process. It can also be used to get baseline data on someone who might be prone to injury, such as an athlete (e.g., The IMPACT evaluation is done on healthy individuals and provides data to help with diagnosis, prognosis and treatment if someone suffers a concussion or other head injury). Finally, it can be conducted as part of a process of training to evaluate techniques believed to be useful for cognitive enhancement. This can apply both to people who have had brain injuries, as well as to normally functioning individuals who wish to engage in tasks with the intent of improving their overall cognitive abilities. Repeat neuropsych. testing is often done at 6 month to 2 year intervals to track progress or rate of deterioration.

Q: Why does neuropsychological testing take so long to do?
A: Neuropsych. testing can take anywhere from 2 to 20 hours to complete, with an average of around 6-8 hours. It is often spread over several different days, for a number of reasons. Understandably, the more comprehensive the testing needed, the longer it will take. Usually, a "reverse funnel" approach is used, with initial questions and tests geared towards determining areas of difficulty and later testing focusing on the specifics of any problems that are found. In this way, precise and detailed recommendations can be made. Repeat testing is almost always considerably shorter than the initial evaluation.

Q: What are the costs of your services?
A: Costs vary, based upon a number of factors. Most of our doctors do accept major insurances (all of which pay different rates and charge different co-pays) and some do sit on HMO panels. Some services and doctors are primarily pay out of pocket. You will always know what you are going to be charged before services are rendered. Testing services are typically billed at a higher rate than psychotherapy. For a precise breakdown of your specific fees, please call our office and talk with our office manager.

Q: Do you prescribe medications?
A: We work in conjunction with primary care doctors as well as specialists, including psychiatrists, to coordinate overall care. However, the actual prescribing of medications, when appropriate, is handled by your doctors or those who we may refer you to.

Q: What kinds of tools can psychotherapy provide as a benefit?
A: Psychotherapy can provide various tools for any individual who is motivated to put them into practice. For example, there are patterns of thinking or "mental habits" that increase our vulnerability to disorders such as Anxiety and Depression. A psychotherapist can help someone create positive and healing changes through development of awareness of the "mental habits"; followed by the development and use of tools to change the negative habits. While this is occurring, the therapist helps to monitor and develop effective implementation of the behavioral, cognitive, emotional and often spiritual tools. Over time, this results in development of effective and consistent new behaviors and internal processes that produce positive and long-lasting changes. This is only one of many ways that psychotherapy produces positive change.

Q: What age range of people do you work with?
A: Our office deals primarily with children and adults ranging from 8 years of age and up. We occasionally are able to evaluate children as young as 6, for certain purposes and/or conditions.

Q: How long will I have to wait for the firs appointment?
A: While this depends on whether you are coming in primarily for an evaluation of some sort (typically a bit longer waiting period), or predominantly to be evaluated for treatment by one of our staff, we will always try to get people seen as soon as possible. Typically, the first appointment can be made within a week of your first call or contact with us.

Q: What insurances do you take?
A: Different practitioners are on different insurance panels. Effectively, someone in our office sits on nearly every panel or can be accessed as an out of network provider. Some services are more easily or fully covered than others, and all insurance carriers vary in terms of what they provide. Our office manager will gladly help you to sort all of this out and to give you the details regarding what your particular carrier will or won't offer.

Q: What is the difference between Psychiatry and Psychology?
A: Basically, Psychiatrists are M.D.s, with training in diagnosis and medication management. Psychologists are Ph.D.s or Psy.D.s with training in scientific research, diagnostic assessment and psych. testing, clinical theories and practical applications. Only Psychiatrists can currently prescribe medications in most states. In some states (California is NOT of these) Psychologists with specialty training can prescribe meds. Psychotherapy is provided by both psychiatrists and psychologists when they have sufficient training and background and have passed requisite examinations to demonstrate professional competence.

Q: What is biofeedback?
A: The easiest way to answer this question is to click on the link for Biofeedback on Kathleen Allen's biography, which is on the "Meet our Staff" page of this website.

Q: How often or how many times do I have to go for Biofeedback to be effective?
A: Like any treatment, this can vary for each individual. However, most sessions last 45 minutes to 1 hour in duration and most people go, on average, for 12 to 16 sessions altogether.