Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:56:07.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Psychiatric Interviewing Techniques VI. Experimental Study: Eliciting Feelings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. Cox
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
D. Holbrook
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
M. Rutter
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF

Summary

Four experimental interview styles, designed to differ in the extent of their use of active fact-oriented and active feeling-oriented techniques, were compared in relation to their use in the initial diagnostic interviews with the mothers of children referred to a psychiatric clinic. All four styles proved to be effective in eliciting emotions and feelings, but the findings suggested that each was effective for different reasons. It appeared that emotional expression could be encouraged by the interviewer's response to emotional cues, by a reflective style with little factual cross-questioning, by the use of direct requests for self-disclosures, by the optimal (but not necessarily maximal) use of interpretations and expressions of sympathy, and by direct requests for feelings.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balint, M. & Balint, E. (1961) Psychotherapeutic Techniques in Medicine. London: Tavistock Publications.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Rutter, M. (1966) The measurement of family activities and relationships: A methodological study. Human Relations, 19, 241–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, A., Hopkinson, K. & Rutter, M. (1981) Psychiatric interviewing techniques II. Naturalistic study: Eliciting factual information. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 283–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cox, A. & Rutter, M. (1977) Diagnostic appraisal and interviewing. In Child Psychiatry: Modem Approaches (eds. Rutter, M. and Hersov, L.). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific.Google Scholar
Cox, A., Rutter, M. & Holbrook, D. (1981) Psychiatric interviewing techniques V. Experimental study: Eliciting factual information. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 2937.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finesinger, J. (1948) Psychiatric interviewing I. Some principles and procedures in insight therapy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 105, 187–95.Google Scholar
Gill, M., Newman, R. & Redlich, F. C. (1954) The Initial Interview in Psychiatric Practice. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Hopkinson, K., Cox, A. & Rutter, M. (1981) Psychiatric interviewing techniques III. Naturalistic study: Eliciting feelings. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 406–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quinton, D., Rutter, M. & Rowlands, O. (1976) An evaluation of an interview assessment of marriage. Psychological Medicine, 6, 577–86.Google ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. & Brown, G. W. (1966) The reliability and validity of measures of family life and relationships in families containing a psychiatric patient. Social Psychiatry, 1, 3853.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. & Cox, A. (1981) Psychiatric interviewing techniques I. Methods and measures. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 273–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. & Cox, A., Egert, S., Holbrook, D. & Everitt, B. (1981) Psychiatric interviewing techniques IV. Experimental study: Four contrasting styles. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 456–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K., Birley, J. L. T., Cooper, J. E., Graham, P. & Isaacs, A. D. (1967) Reliability of a procedure for measuring and classifying ‘present psychiatric state’. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 499515.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K., Nixon, J. N., Mann, S. A. & Leff, J. P. (1977) Reliability of the PSE (ninth edition) used in a population study. Psychological Medicine, 7, 505–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.