Title Details

JOHN SOMMERS-FLANAGAN, PhD, and RITA SOMMERS-FLANAGAN, PhD, have worked together professionally for eighteen years. John is a clinical psychologist and Executive Director of Families First, a parent education program. Rita is a clinical psychologist and professor of counseling at the University of Montana. They are the authors of numerous professional articles, instructional chapters, and four books.

Part One: Becoming a Mental Health Professional.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Philosophy and Organization.

Welcome to the Journey.

Teaching Philosophy.

Theoretical Orientations.

Basic Requirements for Clinical Interviewers.

Goals and Objectives of This Book.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Chapter 2: Foundations and Preparations.

Toward a Definition of Clinical Interviewing.

Self-Awareness.

Effective Interviewing: Seven Vocational Perspectives.

The Physical Setting.

Professional and Ethical Issues.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Part Two: Listening and Relationship Development.

Chapter 3: Basic Attending, Listening, and Action Skills.

Attending Behavior.

Moving Beyond Attending.

Nondirective Listening Responses.

The Pull to Reassurance.

Directive Listening Responses.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Chapter 4: Directives: Questions and Action Skills.

Using Questions.

Directive Action Responses.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Chapter 5: Relationship Variables and Clinical Interviewing.

Carl Rogers’s Core Conditions.

Psychoanalytic and Interpersonal Relationship Variables.

Relationship Variables and Behavioral and Social Psychology.

Feminist Relationship Variables.

Integrating Relationship Variables.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Part Three: Structuring and Assessment.

Chapter 6: An Overview of the Interview Process.

Structural Models.

The Introduction.

The Opening.

The Body.

The Closing.

Termination.

The Science of Clinical Interviewing.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Chapter 7: Intake Interviewing and Report Writing.

What Is an Intake Interview?

Objectives of Intake Interviewing.

Factors Affecting Intake Interview Procedures.

Interviewing Special Populations.

Brief Intake Interviewing: A Managed Care Model.

The Intake Report.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Chapter 8: The Mental Status Examination.

What Is a Mental Status Examination?

The Generic Mental Status Examination.

When to Use Mental Status Examinations.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Chapter 9: Suicide Assessment.

Personal Reactions to Suicide.

Suicide Statistics.

Considering Suicide Myths.

Suicide Risk Factors.

Conducting a Thorough Suicide Assessment.

Crisis Intervention with Suicidal Clients.

Professional Issues.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Chapter 10: Diagnosis and Treatment Planning.

Principles of Psychiatric Diagnosis.

Diagnostic Assessment: Methods and Procedures.

The Science of Clinical Interviewing, Part II: Diagnostic Reliability and Validity.

A Balanced Approach to Conducting Diagnostic Clinical Interviews.

Treatment Planning.

An Integrated (Biopsychosocial) Approach to Treatment Planning.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Part Four: Interviewing Special Populations.

Chapter 11: Interviewing Young Clients.

Special Considerations in Working with Children.

The Introduction.

The Opening.

The Body.

The Closing.

Termination.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Chapter 12: Interviewing Couples and Families.

Some Ironies of Interviewing Couples and Families.

Interviewing Stages and Tasks.

Formal Couple and Family Assessment Procedures.

Special Considerations.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

Chapter 13: Multicultural and Diversity Issues.

Relationship in the Context of Diversity.

The Big Four.

Other Diverse Client Populations.

The Importance of Context.

Interviewing Context and Procedures.

Culture-Bound Syndromes.

Matters of Etiquette.

Summary.

Suggested Readings and Resources.

References.

Author Index.

Subject Index.

About the Authors.

Praise for 2E: "This book...represents a thorough and well-written presentation of the strategies, processes, and interactions necessary for the effective clinical interview...highly recommended..." (Albert B. Hood, University of Iowa for APA Review of Books)One of the best books on clinical interviewing just got better. The increased emphasis on multicultural issues and new sections on the science of interviewing and intake report writing are particularly welcome additions.
This is easily one of the best books on clinical interviewing available and makes an outstanding text for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in the helping professions. In successfully blending theory, scholarly research, and richly illustrated clinical examples, the authors bring the material to life.
The book stands out in the competitive field of clinical interviewing texts. In addition to providing invaluable information on basic interviewing skills, it addresses advanced topics such as assessment, treatment planning, and important multicultural issues.
Exceptionally clear and well-written, this book provides beginning graduate students in the helping professions with invaluable information on learning how to conduct effective clinical interviews. Highly recommended.
A worthwhile addition to the library of any helping professional, this book offers mu ch more than most beginning-level texts on helping skills. Chapters on suicide assessment, conducting effective mental status examinations, diagnosis and treatment planning, interviewing children and families, and multicultural issues set it apart from similar texts.
—Eric R. Dahlen, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Southern Mississippi

Clinical Interviewing is at the heart of psychotherapy. It is THE most important tool in the clinician's tool bag. The process involves the paradoxical components of creating a relationship of safety and trust while gathering important information in order to make an intervention or change in the client's life. This exceptional book provides the basic understandings and skills needed to become an effective interviewer.
—Jon Carlson, Psy.D., Ed.D., ABPP, Distinguished Professor, Governors State University