Diagnostic interview in psychology: characteristics and functions

Let's see what is the diagnostic interview in psychology and how it is applied to patients.

The interview is one of the most important tools in psychology, being used in order to make different types of exploration that allow the psychologist to find unobservable content that needs to be evaluated.

More specifically, the diagnostic interview in psychology is a tool used by mental health professionals, being in this case within the clinical and health context, with the aim of exploring the possible psychopathologies or the causes of the psychological discomfort that the patient who comes to consultation is suffering.

In this article we will look in more detail at the diagnostic interview in psychologyas well as some of the most commonly used techniques during the course of the interview.

What is the diagnostic interview in psychology?

The diagnostic interview in psychology and mental health is a resource very used by psychologists and psychiatrists, in a clinical or sanitary contextThe diagnostic interview in psychology and mental health is a resource widely used by psychologists and psychiatrists, in a clinical or health context, in order to make a diagnostic exploration of possible psychopathologies, or simply in order to search for the origin of the psychological discomfort or suffering that has led the person to seek professional help.

It should be noted that the most important thing is not to formulate a diagnostic label, but to find the most appropriate psychological treatment that will allow the psychologist to help the patient.

When making a diagnosis in psychology or an examination of a patient's mental health, the criteria of the most widely recognized diagnostic systems worldwide, such as the DSM-5 of the American Psychiatric Association, or the ICD-10 and the recently published ICD-11, both from the World Health Organization, are usually taken as a reference.

However, these manuals have been developed on the basis of a Wide range of clinical mental health conditions, but they do not provide indications on how to proceed to make a diagnosis or explore the root cause of the illness. or explore the root cause of the psychological distress.. It is therefore important for mental health professionals to have some knowledge of how to conduct a diagnostic interview using a series of questions to facilitate the diagnosis or to find the causes of the psychological distress presented by the patient.

Throughout the diagnostic interview in psychology, the psychologist promotes the establishment of a good therapeutic alliance through sincerity, honesty and collaboration and by demonstrating that there will be confidentiality. The psychologist puts into practice fundamental skills in the profession, such as empathy or active listening.

It should be noted that the purpose of the diagnostic interview in psychology is not merely to formulate a diagnostic label about a psychopathology or disorder. about some psychopathology or mental disorder, although it must be borne in mind that clinical diagnosis plays a fundamental role. However, this type of interview also serves to find the psychological treatment and the tools that the psychologist should employ to help his patient.

It is also important to note that there is no single style of diagnostic interview in psychology, but that each psychologist outlines his or her personal style. throughout his or her professional career as he or she gains experience with all kinds of cases in consultation. However, there are a number of essential aspects that most psychologists usually take into account when conducting a diagnostic interview.

What is it for?

The diagnostic interview in psychology and mental health is usually used for the purpose of conducting an initial exploration that is of great help to the psychologist in order to to make the first decisions about the path to be followed during the following therapy sessions.. This interview is often complemented with different psychological assessment instruments that allow the psychologist to contrast what has been collected during the diagnostic interview.

The diagnostic interview in psychology serves as an initial screening tool to determine whether the patient can be evaluated or needs a more urgent intervention, and may need to be referred to a professional from another specialty (e.g., neurologist), as well as to have a first reference to determine where the diagnostic screening should continue (e.g., complementing the screening through the diagnostic interview with the use of psychological assessment tests).

In short, the diagnostic interview in psychology is a tool that allows the psychologist to have initial diagnostic impressions that set the direction of the diagnostic evaluation, as well as the selection of treatment.It also allows the selection of the most appropriate psychological treatment or the determination of a referral to another clinical specialty. Therefore, this first exploration offered by the diagnostic interview should be carried out as reliably as possible, setting aside any kind of expectations or stereotypes that the psychologist may have initially formed with respect to the patient.

Phases and guidelines to follow

The following are the fundamental guidelines that are usually considered when carrying out an initial exploration through the diagnostic interview in psychology.

1. Initial observation

The first task in the diagnostic interview in psychology is the initial observation that allows the psychologist to notice a number of details about the patient during the first few seconds of the interview, such as those listed below.such as those listed below:

• Sex.
• Age.
• Hygiene and health appearance, as well as manner of dress.
• Ethnicity.
• State of consciousness (alertness, lethargy, stupor).
• Posture and movements.
• Expressions.
• Eye contact (noting if he/she maintains or avoids it).
• Notice if he/she makes strange movements.

2. Detection by means of questions

The diagnostic interview in psychology is a good tool of detection by means of a series of questions.There are many of them with a wide validation through empirical research that have shown that there are questions that have a higher quality when making an initial detection and a possible diagnosis in psychology.

These questions should not be considered as a diagnostic criterion in themselves, but they do allow as a first filter so that the psychologist can choose throughout the interview those issues of greater relevance to determine the causes for which the patient has come to consultation, as well as the origin of their possible psychological distress.

Therefore, the clinician uses questions that are oriented to the aspects that are most relevant for the diagnosis or the determination of the causes of the discomfort suffered by the patient in order to find the most the patient is suffering in order to find the most suitable treatment.

3. Exploration

During the diagnostic interview in psychology, a series of informal questions are also asked. a series of informal questions in order to explore various aspects of the patient:

• General level of attention during conversation, as well as sustained, focused and selective attention.
• The patient's language, analyzing fluency, articulation, rhythm, inflections or the way of expressing oneself.
• Analysis of thought, by assessing its associative capacity or possible incongruities.
• Assessment of the patient's orientation (space-time, vital, historical and current).
• Evaluation of short and long term memory, assessment of possible distortions.
• Assessment of the patient's anamnesis or life history.
• Evaluation of the patient's affective state (self-perception, motivation, non-verbal expressions, etc.).

4. Use of complementary instruments

It is very useful for the diagnostic interview in psychology to be complemented with other psychological assessment instruments in order to contrast the results of the tests with the conclusions drawn during the interview to enable a more complete and exhaustive diagnosis to be made.

These complementary instruments offer the possibility to evaluate possible psychosocial problems or to make an assessment of the patient's overall functioning. about the degree of dependence in performing basic activities of daily living in case the psychologist deems them necessary when conducting the diagnostic interview in psychology; for this purpose, he/she could use the Katz index or Katz Functional Scale.

Tests that assess the patient's subjective state of health (e.g., using the SF-12 - "12-Item Short-Form Health Survey") or the brief Quality of Life scale (e.g., WHOQOL - "World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire") can be used.

It is also possible to use psychological tests complementary to the diagnostic interview in psychology to evaluate the patient's functional contents of greater amplitude, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination, which serves to evaluate the subject at a cognitive level if any possible impairment is suspected.