CLINICAL INTERVIEW

Gemah Nuripah, dr. SpKJ, M.Kes

Bagian Psikiatri
FK UNISBA

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Two interview style :

 Insight-oriented
(psychodynamic)
 Symptom-oriented (descriptive)

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 Insight-oriented (psychodynamic)

 Infantileconflicts become chronic

pathogens of the mind that interfere
with the patien’s action, distort his
perception, and lead to symptoms,
maladjustied behavior and suffering.
 Identify defense mechanisms
 Discussion of patient’s conflicts
 Goal : Psychodynamic formulation
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 Symptom-oriented (descriptive)
 Psychiatric disorders manifest themselves
in a characteristic set of signs, symptoms
and behavior.
 The goal is to classify the patient’s
complains and dysfunctions according to
defined diagnostic categories (Axis I-V) 
predict prognosis and treatment.
 Methode : observe the patient’s behavior/
translates patient’s perception into
symptom and sign. 4
FOUR COMPONENTS OF INTERVIEW
 Rapport : how the interviewer and
her patient relate.
 Technique : insight oriented /
descriptive
 Mental status : patient’s general state
of mind while interviewer talk
to him.
 Diagnosing : psychodinamic
formulation / criteria diagnostic.
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 THREE PHASE OF INTERVIEW
 Opening phase : warms up the patients,
established rapport, prepare the patient for
the main task of interview.
 Middle phase : longest time, to emphasize
the shift of interviewing goals.
 End phase : closure, avoid highly emotional
topics, summarize for the patient what has
been learned and provide an outlook for the
future.
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 STRATEGIES FOR RAPPORT

 Put your patient and yourself at ease

 Find the suffering – show compassion
 Assess insight – become an ally
 Show expertise
 Establish leadership
 Balance the role

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 Put your patient and yourself
at ease

 Firstgoal is simply to get a sense of

the patient, initiate rapport, not to
arrive at an immediate diagnosis.
 Recognize signs (territorial,
behavioral, emotional, verbal).
 Respond to sign.

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 Find the suffering –
show compassion
 Assessthe suffering :
“What is bothering you?”
“How did that make you feel?”

 Respond with empathy :

“You must be awful.”
“I can see how that shook you up.”
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 Assess insight – become an ally
Level insight :
 Full insight : patient who describes his
psychiatric symptom as a result of a
disorder.
 Partial insight : Lack of awareness of
being sick, deny the impact of their illness.
 No insight : complete denial that he
suffers from any illness.
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 Show expertise

 Put the illness into perspective

 Show knowledge
 Deal with doubt
 Instill hope

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 Establish leadership

 Taking control of your interaction

with him.
 Express interest in his welfare.
 Motivate him to change.

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 Balance the role
 Roles of interviewer :
1. The empathic listener
2. The expert
3. The authority

 Roles of the patients :

1. Carrier of an illness
2. The sufferer
3. The “VIP”
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PATIENT’S IDENTITY

 Name : What is your name ?

 Age : How old are you ?
 Education : Tell me about your education
background
 Marital status : Are you married ?
 Occupation : What do you do for living?
 Residence : Where do you live ?
 Religion : Do you commited to a certain
religion ?
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CHIEF COMPLAINT
How can I help you?
HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS
The date of onset
Since when this things happened?
Whether the onset was sudden or insidious
Did this thing happen suddenly or gradually?
The precipitating factor
Was there any special event which bothering
you before all these things happened?
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Emotional changes
Is there any changes in your mood?

Behaviour changes
Is there any changes in your behaviour?

Somatic symptoms
Do you have any physical complains (such as
pain, tinnitus, blurring of vision, palpitation,
excessive sweating, dry mouth, fatigue, or
difficulty in swallowing)? 16
Vegetative symptoms
Is there any changes in your sleep, appetite,
body weight, urination, libido, menses?

Cognitive symptoms
Do you have any problem with concentration?

Patient’s functioning
Do you still doing your tasks as usual?
Do you have any problem with personal
hygiene?
How involved are you with the social life around
you?
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Assess the patient’s orientation to :

 Time :
Can you tell me what is today’s date? (the
day, month, year)
 Place :
What is the name of the place that we are
in now?
 Person :
Do you know who is …………….…… ?
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Assess the patient’s memory
1. Immediate memory
Now I will mention three objects. Please
repeat them after I have mentioned them.
(mention 3 different object and let the
patient repeat them)
2. Recent memory
How did you come to this place?
3. Remote memory
Where do you live when you were a kid?
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Assess the patient’s thought :

 Obsession
Have you ever been bothered by certain
thoughts or images that came into your mind
over and over even thought you tried to
ignore or stop them?
 Phobia
 Social phobia
Have you ever been so afraid of embarrasing
yourself in public that you would not do
certain things most people do, like eating in
restaurant, using a public restroom, or
speaking out in a room full of people?
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 Simple phobia
Have you ever been much more afraid of
things that the average person is not
afraid of? like flying, heights, small
animals, receiving an injection, or seeing
blood, so you prefer to avoid such things?
 Somatic complaint
Is there any problem with your physical
health which the doctors cannot
explained?
 Suicide idea
Have you had any thoughts about ending
your life?
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Assess the patient’s mood

How is your mood?

If the patient cannot describes his / her

mood spontaneously, ask :

Depressive
Do you feel depressed, sad or unhappy?

If the answer is no, ask:

Do you lost your interest or pleasure?
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Anxious
Do you feel worried, nervous, anxious or tense?

Panic attack
Have you ever had sudden spells or attacks of
nervousness, panic, or a strong fear that just seems
to come over you all of sudden, or for no particular
reason?

Euphoric
Do you feel high or excited?

Irritable
Do you get angry easily? 23
 Assess the patient’s insight of illness :

Would you say that you had a psychiatric

or mental problem?

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Assess the patient’s psychomotor behaviour:

 Compulsion
Have you ever felt you had to repeat
certain act over and over even thought it
did not make much sense, like hand
washing, ordering, checking or counting?

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OBSERVATION

Observe the patient’s appearance:

face feature, nutritional status, body type,
hygiene, clothes, eye contact
Observe the patient’s consciousness
Observe the patient’s affect
Observe the patient’s attention
Observe the patient’s psychomotor
behaviour: posture, movements
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 CLOSING

According to interview and examination I

conclude that you suffer from distress and
you need take medications, and I’ll give a
prescription for a week.
Would you come again next week?

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Clinical interview of psychiatric disorders

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Assess the patient’s perception

 Auditory hallucination
Do you sometimes hear things that others
don’t hear?

 Visual hallucination
Do you sometimes have “visions” or see
things that others don’t see?

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 Olfactory hallucination
Do you sometimes smell things that are
unusual or that others don’t smell?

 Gustatory hallucination
Do you sometimes taste things that are
unusual?

 Tactile hallucination
Do you sometimes feel any strange or
unusual sensation in your skin?
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Assess the patient’s thought :

Paranoid delusions :
 Delusion of persecution
Does anyone ever spy on you or plot
against you?

 Delusion of reference
Did it ever seem that people were talking
about you or taking special notice of you?
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 Delusion of grandeur
Do you have talents or abilities that other
people don’t have?

 Delusion of self accusation

Do you bothered by guilt feeling about
something you may have done in the past
that deserve punishment?

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 Delusion of control
Do you believe there is something control
you ?

 Somatic delusion
Is there any problem with your physical
health which the doctors cannot
explained?

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Thought withdrawal
 Are your thoughts ever taken out of your
head ?

Thought insertion
 Are thoughts that were not your own ever
put into your head ?

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Thought broadcasting
 Do you sometimes feel as if your thoughts
were being broadcast out loud so that
other people could actually hear what you
were thinking?

Thought control
 Do you sometimes feel that someone or
something outside yourself controls your
thoughts or action againts your will?
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