Summary: Designed for students of all mental health disciplines and for professionals who wish to hone their skills, this user-friendly text clearly shows how to conduct a successful diagnostic interview. Keyed to DSM-III-R diagnoses and covering the range of problems and personalities that interviewers encounter, it describes in detail how to best approach the challenging client and how to elicit critical diagnostic information. Among the many approaches discussed, readers will learn how to: give free rein to the informative client, guide the rambling one, encourage the silent client; and mollify the hostile one. Covering both content and process, the book not only details what should be asked, but also describes the best methods for posing clinical questions. Written in an accessible, jargon-free style, The First Interview features numerous illustrative clinical vignettes that bring these effective techniques to life. It also includes an appendix of abbreviated DSM-III-R diagnoses for easy reference.
|