Psychology

An extensive literature review conducted by Narcoss (2002) demonstrated that in therapy, the relationship is one of the most important factors in outcome variance (as cited in Tursi  Cochran, 2006, p.393).  The clinical interview is the first step in initiating and developing this client-therapist relationship.  Discussed in the succeeding paragraphs is an example of a clinical interview conducted with a mother and her teenage daughter who was arrested for hitting her teacher.  The daughter has been mandated by court to seek professional help to better manage her anger issues.  I will be evaluating the conduct of the interview in the next few of paragraphs.

At the beginning of the interview, the mother and daughter appeared somber and nervous, spoke softly and slowly, and rarely engaged in eye contact.  I mirrored the daughters soft spoken tone and was careful to match her pace of speaking.  This was done to make her feel that I am not rushing her and I am genuinely interested about what she was saying.  I also observed that the more I mirrored the mother, the more she became relaxed and warmed up to the interview.  She seemed to take interest in looking for my discomfort that it took it off her.

Attending behaviors, such as eye contact, leaning forward, open posture, head nodding and relaxed manner, were very helpful in encouraging communication during the interview.  According to Murphy and Dillon (1998), it is important that we convey our continuous interest in each person by making periodic eye contact even if eye contact is not returned (p.58).  I noticed that when speaking to her directly without looking at her mom, she too looked less at her mom when answering.  The mother was also attempting to explain the circumstances surrounding her daughters behavior.  Through shifting eye contact during the interview, I was able to convey when questions are meant for the daughter alone and when the mothers opinion was welcomed. 

I employed reflective listening while not engaging into deep conversation about the incident.  At this stage of the interview, the goal is to establish rapport and convey empathy to the client.  I went through the paper asking all the questions systematically and consistently paraphrasing their answers.  According to Sommers-Flanagan  Sommer-Flanagan (2003), this assures clients that you hear them accurately and allows them to hear what they said (p.70).  This also is a way of clarifying that the interviewer accurately heard what the client expressed.  Clinical interviewing serves as basis for the therapeutic approach so information gathered must be accurate.  As expressed by Watson (2006), before implementing any approach, therapists need to be attuned to their clients needs and goals so they can collaboratively choose the best course of action to realize them (p.14).

The challenging part of the interview was expressing empathy while trying to explain to her that this was important for her to do so she would be able to complete her requirements to the judge.  During one of the questions, I merely asked her if she needed a case manager.  Reflecting on the interview process, I believed it would have benefitted her more if I explained clearly what entails a case management as she may have no prior knowledge about what it is.