Summary of the class of 15th of December, 2010

Summary of the class of 15th of December, 2010

Of all those times we psychology students have had to, time and again, study the importance and the nuances of the clinical interview, I do believe yesterday’s CP class was one of the most entertaining sessions on the topic!
The class was begun in the expectation (!) that the class had read chapters 7 and 8 from Pomerantz. The opening discussion was on the prerequisites of conducting a clinical interview. Pomerantz had listed the following 3 prerequisites:
• “Quieting” of the mind
• Self awareness
• Positive working Relationship/ Rapport
However, the class saw fit to add more items to his list:
• Active listening skills
• Attending skills (eye contact, body posture, paralinguistic qualities)
• Communication skills
• Adequate training
• Genuineness
• Openness
• Non-judgemental attitude
Sir pointed out that whatever the interview is intended to accomplish (Intake, assessment, intervention, etc), a comfortable professional relationship will smooth the way. Several factors determine how tough or easy it would be to build such a relationship with the client. One obvious factor is the personality of the therapist, and another is the level of self awareness in him/her.
Things took an interesting turn at this point: It is obviously essential it is for clinical psychologists, to appreciate how absolutely indispensable and difficult to achieve self awareness can be. And what better place to hear that than straight from the horse’s mouth? DC sir sportingly shared with the class his own moments of uncertainty and doubt- and had some of us in class sharing our own experiences, too…!
Moving onto questioning skills, sir mentioned it is very important to strike a balance in the proportion of open-ended to close ended questions. He also talked about listening responses, which include clarification, paraphrasing, reflection (of content and of feeling) and summarizing.
The purpose of interviews, he said, generally lie on a continuum with assessment at one end and intervention at the other, and depends on specific populations and objectives. The importance of setting and its relation to the referral question was stressed.
In enumerating the various types of interviews, 3 criteria are kept in mind:
• Role (directive / non-directive)
• Structure of interview (structured / semi-structured/ unstructured)
• Purpose (Intake interview, case history interview, MSE, crisis interview, diagnostic/clinical interview and collateral interviews).
Of course, it is usually the case that more than one type of interview is rolled into one.
The class ended on a most hilarious note- with mimicry, music and holiday spirit, although the holidays were (technically) a week away. Altogether, those who missed this class are to be pitied! :D