First Interview by James Morrison, David Ed. Morrison, David Ed. Morrison

From the Publisher

Rewritten to incorporate the new DSM criteria, The First Interview updates a text that is rapidly becoming a standard in the field. This timely, accessible volume covers a broad range of personalities and problems typically encountered in the first interview, offering fresh insight on how to elicit key diagnostic details from even the most challenging patient. Completely up to date, all references to DSM-III-R have been revised, and outlines of the most common diagnoses have been rewritten in accordance with the new criteria. The First Interview specifies what you need to ask, and how best to frame your questions. Presented in a conversational, forthright style, these techniques are further brought to life by illustrative clinical vignettes. The author takes you through each stage of an interview, demonstrating how to derive maximum information while establishing and maintaining trust and rapport. Effective verbal and nonverbal communication skills are emphasized, with techniques provided to help draw out feelings and determine symptoms, mental status, family background, personal strengths, and vulnerabilities such as a history of violence or childhood abuse. The volume concludes with a detailed discussion of how clinicians can most effectively present findings and recommendations to patients and their families in a manner that offers information with a sense of trust and hope. Clinically useful appendices include a sample interview and written report, DSM-IV diagnoses in abbreviated form for easy reference, standards for scoring the initial interview, and a list of recommended readings. For the seasoned clinician, this new edition of The First Interview provides a refresher course on the initial interview, and alternative approaches for interviewing difficult patients. It is also an ideal introductory text for students in psychology, psychiatry, social work, pastoral counseling, medicine, and nursing.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Aaron Plattner, MD (Rush University Medical Center)
Description:This book thoroughly covers the interview of a patient, with a focus on the mental health interview. It details how to ask specific questions, addresses different potential conflicts and/or issues that may arise, explains the different parts of the Mental Status Exam, describes how to communicate findings to others, and suggests how to improve interviewing skills through self-reflection and feedback.
Purpose:The purpose is to provide a baseline foundation and tools for becoming an efficient interviewer as well as providing the basic foundation of the different aspects of the field of mental health.
Audience:Medical, psychology, social work, physician assistant, and other students who are enrolled in classes focused on the mental health are the intended audience.
Features:The book provides detailed explanations and examples of all of the different aspects of interviewing a patient in the context of mental health, as well as explanations of why the different areas are important. Areas include the basic format of an interview, how to perform the interview, how to address different potential conflicts that may arise, different symptoms of various diseases, how to end an interview, how to gather all of the gathered information into a diagnosis, and how to present the information in an efficient way. The appendixes provide detailed examples of the interview process and various examples of types of questions that can be used in an interview.
Assessment:When I was starting my patient interviews, I simply read different books on interviewsfor all areas with specific instructions for each of the different areas of medicine, with the result that psychiatry was covered in one paragraph. With this book, I found it easy to identify with the examples and I appreciated the advice for the more complicated scenarios, including patients who are resistant to an interview. However, as a resident, I feel that this book is much too basic and not necessarily useful for someone trying to hone one's skill. Although this book is ideal for students going into mental health for the first time, this is also a very stressful time for young clinicians and they may find themselves hard pressed to be able to complete it before they are overwhelmed with all the other responsibilities in a rotation. This book could be used by students as they progress through their education.

Booknews

This volume, revised to incorporate the new DSM-IV criteria, covers a broad range of personalities and problems typically encountered in the first psychiatric interview, offering insight on eliciting diagnostic details from even the most difficult patients. Clinical vignettes illustrate techniques for each stage of the interview and offer ways to establish rapport and determine symptoms. Appendices provide a summary of the initial interview, describe criteria for selected disorders, and include a sample interview and written report. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Product Details

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Table of Contents