Psychological Self-Assessment Using The Personal Concerns Inventory (PCI)
If You Can Clearly Verbalize A Problem, The Solution Becomes Readily Available
If you’ve ever wished you could quickly pinpoint what’s holding you back and know exactly where to focus, the Personal Concerns Inventory (PCI) can help. It’s a powerful self-guided tool that helps you identify, prioritize, and address the issues that matter most in your life—while tracking your progress over time, privately and securely.
A Quick Overview
- Purpose: Identify your most important personal concerns and take meaningful action
- Process: Answer a structured series of questions covering over 1,000 possible concerns in about 20 minutes
- Output: Get an instant, personalized “This Is Me!” report—yours alone to view or share
- Ongoing Use: Retake the PCI to see how your concerns shift over time, review your history, and spot growth trends
Key Benefits Of The PCI
- Faster Insight – Quickly uncover what’s really driving your challenges
- Confidence in Action – Move forward knowing you’re addressing the right issues
- Ongoing Motivation – See your growth over time to stay committed to change
- Self-Empowerment – Direct your own development instead of relying solely on others to define your needs
- Better Conversations – Share your results (if you choose) to make therapy or coaching more focused and productive
Why The PCI Was Created: A Better Way To Self-Assess
As a clinical psychologist, I have spent decades observing how psychological assessment and therapy begin. Traditionally, clinicians gather information using multiple questionnaires and personality tests to better understand your needs.
But here’s the question: is all of that always necessary?
In many cases, direct questioning produces the clearest results. People can often identify what’s most important simply by being asked—and listening to themselves. For example, the strongest predictor of a possible suicide attempt is to ask the person directly.
Origin & Evolution Of The Personal Concerns Inventory
My background in psychological assessment includes:
- Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Center for Psychological Research in Princeton, NJ
- Teaching graduate-level courses in Clinical Psychology assessment at the University of Texas at Austin and Indiana University at Bloomington
- Administering hundreds of psychological assessments over the years
Despite that extensive background, I recognized the need for a faster, more empowering approach—one that eliminated the fear of being mislabeled and gave individuals complete control over their results.
The PCI was built to:
- Put you in control of defining your concerns
- Eliminate evaluation anxiety by making results private unless you choose to share them
- Track your changing priorities over time
- Encourage Focused Action toward meaningful goals
Self-Assessment In Action
People often seek help because they don’t feel the way they want to feel—and they don’t know why.
Consider this example: You believe a strained relationship stems from personality differences. In reality, both partners may be drinking too much, and alcohol use is the true underlying issue. The Personal Concerns Inventory helps surface this quickly, allowing therapy or self-work to focus where it will be most effective.
When you know exactly what’s most important, you can take Focused Action to create change—often using additional tools like Relaxation Therapy or the In The Zone Skills Training program to stay clear and motivated.
How The PCI Helps You Move Forward
The PCI organizes your responses so you can see what matters most at this point in your life. This clarity lets you direct your time and energy toward the concerns that will make the greatest difference.
As you continue using the PCI, you’ll see how your concerns shift. That’s why creating an account matters—it allows your results to be saved securely, so you can:
- Compare past completions
- Notice repeating patterns
- Measure your progress over time
You can review all of this anytime through your dedicated history page and trend report, making the PCI not just an assessment, but a living guide for ongoing self-navigation and personal growth.
The Science Behind The PCI
Focus and sustained attention are two of the most reliable paths toward rapid personal change.
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, in The Mind and the Brain (2002), offers compelling evidence that attention can reshape neural pathways:
“The power of attention not only allows us to choose what mental direction we will take. By actively focusing attention on one rivulet in the stream of consciousness, it also allows us to change—in scientifically demonstrable ways—the systematic functioning of our own neural circuitry.”
Neuropsychology research continues to confirm this: we become what we do, and the brain adapts to support those changes.
Be Your Own Psychologist
When you can clearly verbalize your personal concerns, solutions often follow naturally. The PCI equips you with the awareness, focus, and momentum to address them—privately and effectively.
This aligns with the Mulry Method mantra: Relaxed, Balanced, Flexible, and Focused. It’s a self-guided approach that empowers you to take ownership of your growth.
Next Steps
- Try a short Relaxation Therapy session before taking the PCI to sharpen your focus.
- Learn how the PCI fits into the Mulry Method 10-Step Self-Care Guide.
- Discover how it aligns with Social Learning Theory to explain how beliefs, environment, and goal value shape change.
- Explore Polyvagal Theory to understand how your nervous system influences focus, resilience, and emotional balance.
Take The PCI
Gain valuable insights into your personal goals and challenges, track your progress, and take Focused Action toward meaningful change.