Product Description
The 2nd edition of this clinically based guidebook that focuses on the initial psychiatric interview provides practical suggestions for analyzing and altering the interview to mesh with the specific needs of the patient. Contains detailed discussions of how to open an interview, how to interpret nonverbal communication, how to make more natural transitions, and how to arrive at accurate diagnoses. Offers special techniques for eliciting information from depressed, psychotic, and personality-disordered patients. This edition presents updated DSM-IV criteria, new strategies in suicide assessment, and an annotated interview section accompanied by sample write-ups with tips in the appendix.

Spanish version also available, ISBN: 84-8174-596-0

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 9 reviews)

Informative, well written and an easy read

Although a required textbook for graduate school, this book is proving to be a fun read. Highly infomative with real examples that we all can relate to in the field of Psychiatry.
October 05, 2008

Good book, but can be better

This book is great for psychiatric nurses to read; however, the chapters are too length and not to the point.
September 28, 2008

A very good book to worker

I find this book being very useful and practical for me to improve the first interview with clients. It comes with many examples which I can apply directly.

December 30, 2007

Buy it. Read it. Give it to your students.

It is difficult to overstate my enthusiasm for this book as a resource for students and practioners alike. Clearly written, simply organized, accessible and nuanced; this volume is simply the best introductory text on the subject of mental health interviewing available today.

What distinguishes this book is it's recognition of bottom-line diagnostic issues while respecting the dynamic and process of the interview which allows the diagnostic picture to emerge. By organizing the book along diagnostic lines rather than the simple domians of the interview; Shea takes the emphasis of the book off of mere data collection in favor of the interpretation and synthesis that are the true skills of clinicial interviewing. In doing so he avoids the major weakness of most introductory interview texts; which tend to pay more attention to what data to collect at the expense of what to do with the information one obtains.

The most notable enhancement to the second edition is the delineation of Shea's technique for suicide and violence assessment. This is a welcome addition on a topic which is a perrenial source of anxiety for anyone working in mental health.

It's a shame that this book is not on more required reading lists in professional schools. I reccomend this book to trainees of any professional stripe who want to learn more about the art of clincial interviewing, and to practitioners who want to benefit from the wisdom of a true master of the topic.
March 18, 2004

The best book of its kind

There are a lot of interviewing primers out there, but this is a book to really digest. The subtleties of interviewing are slowly and methodically explored with enough "meat" that you don't feel like you've just eaten a lot of cotton candy, as with some other texts. (Of the lighter texts though, I recommend Robinson's "Three Spheres".) Great book. Thanks Dr. Shea!
October 27, 2003

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR Fourth Edition (Text Revision)
by American Psychiatric Association

Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry (Synopsis of Psychiatry)
by Benjamin J Sadock, Virginia A Sadock

The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals and Substance Abuse Counselors
by Shawn Christopher Shea

Interview Guide for Evaluating Dsm-IV Psychiatric Disorders and the Mental Status Examination
by Mark Zimmerman

Motivational Interviewing, Second Edition: Preparing People for Change
by William R. Miller, Stephen Rollnick