Introduction
A mental component plays a significant role in the overall people’s health. If a person does not have any physical issues with their organism, any psychological problem makes it impossible for them to feel good. That is why medical professionals should assess the psychiatric health of appropriate individuals to identify such issues. The psychiatric interview is the most suitable tool to gather this information. While it consists of many essential elements, the psychiatric interview helps determine how psychiatric issues are connected with a medical condition.
Elements of Psychiatric Interview
As has been mentioned, the psychiatric interview includes a few components, and each of them has a significant meaning for the assessment process. Since it is the process of verbal assessment, it is impossible to overestimate the importance of therapeutic communication. This phenomenon is useful in identifying the state of a patient’s mental health and provide the necessary support to them. In turn, various communication techniques make it possible to establish a practitioner-client relationship. These two phenomena help a patient feel comfortable, which allows them to disclose the exhaustive data on the medical history of their disorders (Carlat, 2016). Thus, therapeutic communication and a practitioner-client relationship are the basis of obtaining reliable details during the interview.
In addition to that, practitioners should draw attention to the environment of their interviews to achieve productive results. On the one hand, such a process should be conducted in the settings that will both be comfortable for the patient and protect their privacy. On the other hand, the environment should contribute to increased practitioner’s safety, which is essential because people with mental disorders can behave dangerously for others. Furthermore, mental health professionals should draw attention to the patients’ age, culture, genetics, health literacy level, and spiritual beliefs. It is so because people with different backgrounds need various approaches to determine their psychiatric issues. For example, Nardi, Waite, and Killian (2012) emphasize the significance of culturally competent mental health care. The researchers stipulate that the best patient outcomes can be achieved if practitioners “adapt care provided to specific contexts” (Nardi et al., 2012, p. 3). The information above shows that external factors are also significant for the given process.
The Impact of a Psychiatric Condition
There is no doubt that mental health and physical health are in a close relationship. For example, if an individual has a health disorder, it can result in psychiatric issues for them. This idea is supported by García-Toro et al. (2016), who demonstrate that obesity and metabolic syndrome lead to “a poor outcome of depression at 12 months” (p. 105). This information denotes that screening for general medical conditions should be an integral part of the psychiatric interview. This phenomenon shows whether a physical condition causes a psychological disorder, or it is necessary to look for mental factors.
Conclusion
The psychiatric interview is a useful tool to assess the mental health of patients, and numerous practitioners use it to determine what makes individuals feel bad. This phenomenon is a complex process that implies a few essential components. Practitioners should draw specific attention to them to achieve the best interviewing results. In addition to that, it has been demonstrated that the assessment under consideration should include evaluating a general state of people’s health. Specific evidence proves that various health disorders can harm the mental conditions of individuals.
References
Carlat, D. J. (2016). The psychiatric Interview (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
García-Toro, M., Vicens-Pons, E., Gili, M., Roca, M., Serrano-Ripoll, M. J., Vives, M., … Oliván-Blázquez, B. (2016). Obesity, metabolic syndrome, and Mediterranean diet: Impact on depression outcome. Journal of Affective Disorders, 194, 105-108.
Nardi, D., Waite, R., & Killian, P. (2012). Establishing standards for culturally competent mental health care. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services,50(7), 3-5.