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The Intake Interview as the Beginning of Psychiatric Treatment in Children's Cases. Jules V. Coleman, Genevieve B. Short and J. Cotter Hirschberg. Pp. 183–186.
The Psychiatric Social Worker Functioning at Intake in a Community Clinic for Adults. Myron J. Rockmore and Marion E. Kenworthy. Pp. 196–203.
Several valuable contributions have been made recently to the theory and practice of the psychiatric interview. Finesinger presents a particularly careful and detailed analysis of the interview as an instrument of 'insight therapy'. He distinguishes four guiding principles: 1, The development of an effective physician-patient relationship; 2, Goal-directed planning and management; 3, Channelization on topics relevant to goals; 4, Minimum activity by physician, maximum initiative from patient.
Coleman and his co-workers distinguished three functions in the initial interview: a referral service for patients who require assistance from agencies rather than strictly psychiatric treatment; a preparation for psychiatric aid proper; and an actual therapeutic force in itself. Illustrations are given as to how the interview may be oriented in the desired direction.
Rockmore and Kenworthy, reporting on their experiences at the Treatment Center of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, discuss the proper rôle of the psychiatric social worker at the intake interview. 'The major emphasis of the intake interview should revolve around the individual's need and desire for treatment, and the ability of the service to meet the demand.' They warn against permitting too extensive communications or cathartic experiences on such occasions and find that 'the safest method, where possible, is to limit the interview content at the outset to an account of the problem for which help is being sought'. Such an approach is important not only in determining the need for and proper form of psychotherapy, but in orienting both patient and psychiatrist in the initial treatment relationship.