Ch 8 - ClinPsy

• The interviewer


  • Skilled interviewer is a master of the technical and practical aspects of the interview
  • Demonstrates broad-based wisdom about the human interaction it entails
• General skills of the interviewer

  • Quieting yourself
  • Being self-aware
  • Developing positive working relationships
• Quieting yourself


  Not just the interviewer's speech, but the interviewer's internal, self-directed thinking pattern
• Being self-aware


  Knowing how the interviewer tends to affect others interpersonally and how others tend to relate to the interviewer
• Developing positive working relationships


  Attentive listening, appropriate empathy, genuine respect, and cultural sensitivity
• Specific behaviors of the interviewer

  • Eye contact
  • Body language
  • Vocal qualities
  • Verbal tracking
  • Referring to the client by the proper name
• Eye contact


  Facilitates listening and communicates listening
• Body language


  Face the client, appear attentive, minimize restlessness, display appropriate facial expressions
• Vocal qualities


  Use pitch, tone, volume, and fluctuation to let clients know their words and feelings are being deeply appreciated
• Verbal tracking


  Repeat key words and phrases back to clients to ensure they have been accurately heard
• Referring to the client by the proper name


  Essential to avoid presumptuous mistakes that can jeopardize the client's sense of comfort
• Components of the interview

  • Rapport
  • Technique
  • Conclusions
• Rapport


  A positive, comfortable relationship between interviewer and client where the client feels the interviewer has "connected" with them and empathizes with their issues
• Interviewer techniques

  • Directive
  • Nondirective
• Directive technique


  Interviewer obtains information by asking clients specifically for it, questions are targeted, answers are brief or 'yes or no'
• Nondirective technique


  Interviewer allows clients to determine the course of the interview, uses open-ended questions
• Specific interviewer responses

  • Open and closed ended questions
  • Clarification
  • Confrontation
  • Paraphrasing
  • Reflection of feeling
  • Summarizing
• Open-ended question


  Allows for individualized and spontaneous responses from clients
• Closed-ended question


  Allows for far less elaboration and self-expression by the client but yields a quick and precise answer
• Clarification


  Technique to make sure the interviewer has an accurate understanding of the client's comments
• Confrontation


  Used when the interviewer notices discrepancies or inconsistencies in the client's comments
• Paraphrasing


  Used to assure clients that they are being accurately heard, restate client's comments using similar language
• Reflection of feeling


  Intended to make clients feel that their emotions are recognized
• Summarizing


  Involves tying together various topics, connecting statements, and identifying themes that have recurred during the interview
• Conclusions


  Involve summarization, an initial conceptualization, a diagnosis, or recommendation
• Pragmatics of the interview

  • Note taking
  • Audio and video recordings
  • The interview room
  • Confidentiality
• Note taking


  Better than memory, can increase rapport by explaining purpose
• Audio and video recordings


  Require written permission, can hinder openness and willingness to disclose
• The interview room


  Size, furniture, décor, lighting, scent should create a balance between professional formality and comfortable casual
• Confidentiality


  Upholding client information private, with exceptions for self-harm, harm to others, suicide, child abuse
• Types of interviews

  • Intake
  • Diagnostic
  • Structured
  • Unstructured
  • Semi-structured
  • Mental status exam
  • Crisis
• Intake interview


  Primary purpose is to determine whether to "intake" the client and what kind of treatment needs they have
• Diagnostic interview


  Primary purpose is to accurately assign a DSM disorder to the client
• Structured interview


  Interview with a predetermined, planned sequence of questions, produces diagnosis on DSM criteria, highly reliable
• Unstructured interview


  Interview with no predetermined or planned questions, interviewer improvises and determines the course
• Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Disorders (SCID)


  A prominent structured interview technique with specific questions related to DSM-5 disorders
• Semi-structured interview


  Has some characteristics of structured and some of unstructured interviews
• Mental status exam


  Assesses how the client is functioning at the time of the evaluation, does not produce a DSM diagnosis
• Crisis interview


  Designed to assess and provide immediate intervention for problems demanding urgent attention, such as active suicidal ideation
• Things assessed in a crisis interview


  • How depressed the client is
  • Whether the client has suicidal thoughts
  • Whether the client has a suicide plan
  • How much self-control the client currently has
  • Whether the client has definite suicidal intentions