Is this normal in a psych eval?

[slikna99]

Had a psych eval the other day and the Dr. was pretty harsh and relentless. I have a pretty spotless history aside from a traffic ticket and being late to work a few times He was all buddy buddy and telling me how all of my test results from the ~1000 questions look great then suddenly told me he wasn't going to pass me and I would be a huge liability to the department. He said I wouldn't make it 2 years and I should do something else for a while then try again. He went on to tell me how my parents weren't strict enough and I never learned to fear authority. I can't tell if he was just trying to piss me off and look for a reaction or if he was being serious. I would have thought at the end he would have atleast pulled me back in and said, "hey I was just trying to get you angry, you did fine." Instead he just let me go home wondering...

I was calm and cool the whole time and tried to explain myself when ever possible. I have talked to some other people and heard that it is his style to try to get you angry and get a rise. Seems like a pretty harsh thing to say though if he was planning to pass me. Anyone else have a similar experience and end up passing their psych exam?

[Gnome]

What Department are you in backgrounds with, and do you remember his name?

[Atlantaboi2012]

its a psych eval,not happy hour with the boys. Did it cross your mind that perhaps that his ACT wasall part of the game just to see what your reaction would be? The object is how well you keep your cool under pressure because ur gonna get a 1000 people who will mouth off to you in that profession. Rule #1 Never personal just business

[Turo]

its a psych eval,not happy hour with the boys. Did it cross your mind that perhaps that his ACT wasall part of the game just to see what your reaction would be? The object is how well you keep your cool under pressure because ur gonna get a 1000 people who will mouth off to you in that profession. Rule #1 Never personal just business

It obviously did, or the OP wouldn't have mentioned it:

I can't tell if he was just trying to piss me off and look for a reaction or if he was being serious.

[<IXOYE><]

That is how the psych is suposed to be. When I did mine, I came out of there not knowing which way was up. I felt like a dirtbag criminal and actually questioned myself about really wanting to be an officer . Its designed to make you second guess yourself and think through many different emotions and circumstances. Sounds normal to me. Enjoy!

[A-J]

Sounds pretty normal. After all, anyone can keep their cool when the question are soft. When the pressure is on though is when the facade can slip and you see a person's true colors, assuming they're acting. It's also useful to know how someone holds up under pressure, cause as a LEO, you're going to get a lot of it.

[badhabit90]

sounds normal to me. same when i had mine done. it is designed to play 'good cop bad cop' in your head. im 12 years in now...if that is what you wanna do, then DONT second guess yourself or let him get in your head about your parents or other life experience. you will get ALOT of that in the academy...good luck and stick with it.

[slikna99]

That is how the psych is suposed to be. When I did mine, I came out of there not knowing which way was up. I felt like a dirtbag criminal and actually questioned myself about really wanting to be an officer . Its designed to make you second guess yourself and think through many different emotions and circumstances. Sounds normal to me. Enjoy!

I hear ya, that is what he tried to do to me.

sounds normal to me. same when i had mine done. it is designed to play 'good cop bad cop' in your head. im 12 years in now...if that is what you wanna do, then DONT second guess yourself or let him get in your head about your parents or other life experience. you will get ALOT of that in the academy...good luck and stick with it.

Thanks! I pretty much figured that was his game and I didn't give in. I wasn't even questioning if this was the right career for me, just whether or not this guy was going to pass me! Had me a little worried but hearing from everyone on here and people who had experience with the same Dr., I am at ease.

Thanks all for your input!

[Che762x39]

When I had mine the guy who was #1 on our list had his too. Later I saw him in the parking lot punching his steering wheel.

At least you did not cry or challenge people to fight. Part of the fight or flight protocol.

My advice is if the expert said you can not do the job, you can do the job. 30 pull ups and a 8:30 1 1/2 mile run does not make a cop.

Lot of civil service jobs out there

[eviioiive]

Dont need to know his name.. I already know who it is... standard operating procedure

[PsychGuy274]

Had a psych eval the other day and the Dr. was pretty harsh and relentless. I have a pretty spotless history aside from a traffic ticket and being late to work a few times He was all buddy buddy and telling me how all of my test results from the ~1000 questions look great then suddenly told me he wasn't going to pass me and I would be a huge liability to the department. He said I wouldn't make it 2 years and I should do something else for a while then try again. He went on to tell me how my parents weren't strict enough and I never learned to fear authority. I can't tell if he was just trying to piss me off and look for a reaction or if he was being serious. I would have thought at the end he would have atleast pulled me back in and said, "hey I was just trying to get you angry, you did fine." Instead he just let me go home wondering...

I was calm and cool the whole time and tried to explain myself when ever possible. I have talked to some other people and heard that it is his style to try to get you angry and get a rise. Seems like a pretty harsh thing to say though if he was planning to pass me. Anyone else have a similar experience and end up passing their psych exam?

Standard procedure. They're trying to piss you off. As a LEO you're gonna have a lot of people saying some not-so-nice things to you and you have to be able to keep your cool; they just want to see if you can do that. Some of these psych tests can only be so accurate because many are based off of loose theories. What you got was a real world test. Sounds like you passed to me.

[email]

I got the "I think you have sex with animals" ruse. This was 20 + years ago.

[hornswaggled]

My friend who got in the LAPD 15 years ago was asked the sex with animals question. He said coming from Ohio, a lot of his former friends would have had to lie.

It sounds kind of like that Eastern Promises movie where the Russian mafia interrogates you and makes you say your parents are sh*t before letting you in.

[Notorious]

Standard for these witch doctors when they can't get anything else. I had great psyches who actually talked to me like a human being and got me to open up on a lot of stuff and I actually asked if he had some time for an extra chat. He obliged and we had a nice chat about friendships and some stuff I was going through. He passed me without problems.

I had one who was a total demon witch and hunted me down relentlessly. I said no to her accusations and she kept going and I kept saying no, I disagree with her assessment. She failed me. I wasn't going to agree with her just to be pleasant because they were some bad accusations. I disagreed in a civil tone but she didn't like it, I guess.

Find out some psyches in the business hate cops and try to fail as many as they can. One guy failed 9 out of 10 candidates and was eventually busted by the company and fired from performing POST psyches. The shame of it was that we will never knew how many good guys were prevented from becoming cops because of this one dickweed prick turd mother****er. There are no words that can express my contempt for people like him who literally ****ed people out of a lifelong career for personal pettiness.

Most of the other ones were pretty standard... not anything confrontational but they did get pretty technical and detailed. But everyone knows in the business that a psyche is whatever and only done because the POST mandates requiring the psyche eval.

Has anyone read a psyche report for pre-employment? I read tons of them. Boilerplate crap with really no substance unless the guy flipped out in the interview or answered the MMPI or other stuff with strange answers.

Heck, I know personally of more than a few candidates who were given a second or even a third psyche just to get them passed because the department wanted them. It's not a one shot deal where you fail and you are done.

[Petro6golf]

^^ I had a psych for a smaller county here in norther california. She asked how many guns I own, I told her 3 and she told me that she thinks 1 is too many and failed me.

The psych I had for the dept I work for now was totally normal and asked how I solve my problems. I told him with words and he passed me. Its all random. Dont stress

My buddy is black and his psych asked him if he wanted any jack daniels, poored 2 glasses, drank one and gave him the other one. Then he asked him what he thinks about being called the n word and used it repeatedly. some are crazy and some are normal.