The Veteran’S Guide to Psychiatry

Section One

Psychiatric Interviewing

Patient interviewing is the core skill in medicine and psychiatry, and communication between doctor and patient is the basis of good; medical practice. In this section we outline the process of psychiatric interviewing and to give the reader some vicarious experience with interviewing patients by using selected examples.

Purpose of the interview is to (1)obtain historical perspective of patient’s life, and (2) establish rapport and a therapeutic alliance, (3) develop mutual trust and confidence, (4) understand present functioning, (5) make a diagnosis, and (6) establish a treatment plan. The techniques deals with questions that come to mind as psychiatric patients that are interviewed and gives a road map to follow for the examination.

Chapter 1

The Psychiatric Interview

The purpose and conduct of a psychiatric evaluation depends on who requests the evaluation, why it is requested, and the expected feature role of the psychiatrist in the patient’s care. A thorough evaluation of a psychiatric patient consists of a psychiatric history, mental status examination, complete physical examination, laboratory screening evaluation, and when indicated, specific psychological and biological tests.

The ability to conduct an effective interview is an important tool for a physician. A psychiatric interview has two important functions. One is to create an atmosphere for mutual exploration in which the patient feels free to say what is on his or her mind; the other is to obtain information necessary for diagnosis and treatment. An interview needs the skills to gather the data necessary to competently treat the patient and to obtain the patient’s advice. Every interview has three main components, all of which demand specific techniques and skills: the beginning of the interview, the interview proper, and the closing of the interview.

Beginning the Interview

The mundane yet often neglected practice of shaking hands helps set the tone for the initial relationship between therapist and patient. Shaking hands firmly with a patient brings to the first moments of contact an element of personal warmth and respect. This simple gesture eases the tension preceding the initial interview and reassures the patient, who almost always approaches the doctor with a degree of apprehension.

Once the patient is seated, the therapist focuses his attention on facilitating in every way possible the patient’s efforts to tell his story. Every aspect of the initial stages of the therapist-patient relationship can be measured against a single, simple standard" is the therapist, in his exchange of initial courtesies, as warm and respectful to the patient says he offers his hand; and takes pains to make the visitor welcome and comfortable.

From the first moment of contact, the doctor or therapist imitates a process that involves a multiplicity of factors within himself as well as within the patient and determines in large measure whether or not the patient recovers.

The Interview Proper

The psychiatric history includes information about the patient as a person, the chief complaint, the present illness, the premorbid adjustment, and the past history, the history of medical illnesses, a family history of psychiatric and medical disorders, and a development history of the patient. Through the interview the psychiatrist tries to learn how the patient experiences life events and to understand the patient’s perceptions of how such events evolve. The major elements of this initial encounter are (1) the therapist’s attitude toward the patient; (2) the therapist’s emotional resources and standard of conduct; (3) the professional versus to social relationship; (4) the concept of resistance and therapeutic alliance and therapeutic alliance; (5) obstacles in the patient" manifestation of resistance’ (6) feelings toward the therapist: reality and transference: (7) obstacles in the therapist: impediments to listening; (8) feelings toward the patient: reality and countertransference: (9) jargon and humor as obstacles: and (10) ethical considerations: sexual relations within therapy.

Harry Stack Sullivan said that the interview must always have in mind one question about the patient: Who is this person and how did he come to be here? The generic answer is that a combination of his native endowments and personal experience has brought him to this pass. Reading about interviewing is only a first step toward becoming a competent interviewer. However, a critical problem in the assessment process is to determine whether any observed change in functioning is due to normal aging or whether it reflects some type of change within the central nervous system above and beyond what might be expected in the normal aging process.

The therapist’s approach to the patient sets the tone for the initial interview. In the course of treating psychiatric patients, clinical observation and careful history taking are the most important tools possessed.

Interviewing Across Cultural Differences

Interviewing patients from different social, cultural, or language groups presents the interviewer with special challenges and opportunities. These include establishing rapport and adequate communication with someone different from oneself.

The cross-cultural doctor-patient relationship also provides the opportunity to learn about a person from a different group than one’s own, to learn a modified set of interviewing skills and to learn about the culture itself. The three groups that will be discussed in this section are the poor (a social group), Blacks, and Spanish-speaking groups. This brings us to the first basic principle of interviewing across sociocultural differences: the physician must first acknowledge to himself or herself that differences exist and that certain emotions may be present but are acceptable. The emotion felt during this sort of encounter may vary: a sense of general discomfort and unease, irritability, frustration, perhaps even anger.

Mental Examination

It is critical that the clinician asses the mental status of the patient. This is accomplished by conducting a mental status examination, which is an objective report on the patient’s current mental functioning as witnessed by the interviewer. Technically the mental status examination is conducted and reported on as a separate part of the clinical psychiatric interview. Patients frequently change with time, and the mental status examination establishes a baseline against which to measure this change. The mental status examination assists in understanding, diagnosing, and measuring the progress of or deterioration in patients and facilitates communication among professional. An overview of the major parts of the mental status examination follows. An outline of this material is presented in Box 1-1.

BOX 1-1 Outline of the Mental Status Examination

Presentation

• General Appearance

• Level of consciousness

• Attitude toward interview

• Motor Behavior

• Speech

Emotional State: mood and affect

• Range of emotional expression

• Appropriateness of emotions

• Biological indicators of affect

Perceptual disturbances

• Hallucinations and illusions

• Depersonalization and DE realization

Thought Processes

• Stream of thought

• Continuity of thought

• Content of thought

Cognitive State

• Orientation

• Attention and Concentration

• Memory

• Intelligence

• Reliability

• Insight and judgment

Mental Status Exam

The format proposed here is based on a consensus among professors of psychiatry from medical schools across the country on what they think essential in a mental status examination. The mental status examination varies with each patient.

1. General appearance. Specific characteristics of dress and grooming ought to be coted, as well as posture, gait, facial expression and gestures.

2. Attitude. What is the patient’s attitude toward his illness, toward the interview, and toward the doctor?

3. Motor behavior. The posture and gait of the patient should be noted as well as tics, tremors, posturing, pacing, grimaces, and other abnormal movements.

4. Speech. Tone of voice, pitch, rate of speech (very fast and pressured as in a manic state or very slow as in a depressed state).

5. Affective states. What the patient is feeling at the moment, which may be flat or blunted with little emotion expressed. Anger, fear, euphoria, elation, ecstasy, depression, irritability, and other emotional states should be noted.

6. Thought Processes. From attending to the content of the patient’s speech, to the structure and rate of associations, and in the flow of ideas.

7. Thought content. The patient’s preoccupations, ambitions, repetitive dreams, and daydreams give ideas of this content.

8. Perception. The capacity to be aware of objects and to discriminate among them. Perceptions of reality include illusions and hallucinations as they constitute the more serious forms of perceptual distortion.

9. Intellectual functioning. A general impression of the patient’s intellectual capacity will be gained from listening to his history. His general level of knowledge must be measured against the years of formal education he has completed sand his particular family and cultural background.

10. Orientation. Disorientation in terms of person, place, or time must be noted.

11. Memory. The patient’s ability to recall past and recent events can be tested as the doctor elicits dates and other details of his life.

12. Judgment. The patient’s ability to make and carry out plans, to take the initiative, to discriminate accurately, ad to behave appropriately in social and other situations reflects his judgment.

VIGNETTE

The AMSIT states whether the patient demonstrates increased psychomotor activity, distractibility, and flight of ideas, as well as loose associations, blocking, and concrete thinking. A description of how the patient relates to the examiner is included. For practical purposes, the emotion sustained for the duration of the interview may be considered the patient’s mood. His affect changed repeatedly through the interview. Twice the patient asked the examiner to stop speaking so that he could hear what the voices were saying to him. Affect was described as blunted, which was moderately decreased range and intensity.

Thoughts were pressured and rapidly jumped form one thought to another, yet the associations ere clear. Blocking involves sudden stops in his train of thoughts, often in midsentence. At all points the patient’s affect was appropriate to his thought content. His sensorium was correctly oriented for time and place. Recent memory was excellent as demonstrated by object recall, digit span, and his spontaneous description of recent events. His judgment was clearly impaired as evidenced by his behavior in the interview. His poor insight was indicated by his puzzlement over why anyone would think he needed to be hospitalized in a psychiatric unit.

Discussion. The mental status of AMSIT report is a systematic documentation of the patient’s t thinking, feelings, and behavior at the time of the interview. Since the AMSIT organizes clinical findings into a systematic report written after the interview, it in no way suggests the sequence of topics in the interview.

BOX 1-2 Report on Patient’s Current Mental Status: AMSIT

I. General Appearance, Behavior and Speech

II. Mood and Affect

III. Sensorium

IV. Intellectual Function

V. Thought

Discussion. Observation of abnormalities in any of these 12 general categories will guide the clinician toward ruling in or out a particular diagnosis or conclusion about the patient’s mental status. Deterioration in grooming sometimes marks the onset of schizophrenia or depression. Overly fastidious dress and grooming may indicate obsessive-compulsive traits. Certain disturbances in attitude will alert the examiner to specific diagnostic possibilities. The suspiciousness, evasiveness, and arrogance characterize paranoid patients; the uncooperativeness or impatience of severely manic patients; the reserved, remote, and unfeeling attitude of the schizophrenic; the resistant, uncooperative attitude of the passive-aggressive patient; the apprehensive attitude of the patient suffering from acute anxiety neurosis; the apathetic, helpless attitude of the depressed patient; and the easily distracted, seemingly indifferent attitude of the patient suffering from an acute brain disorder.

A number of disorders may show themselves in motor abnormalities. Echopraxia is the pathological repetition, by imitation of the movements of another person; this motor disturbance is often seen in catatonic schizophrenics. In waxy flexibility a patient maintains his body position for long periods of time. Cataplexy is a temporary loss of muscle tone and weakness may be precipitated by laughter, anger, or surprise. Stereotypy, the persistent, mechanical repetition of speech or motor activity, is observed in some schizophrenics. Akathisia refers to the particular type of restlessness and uncontrolled motor activity associated with certain psychomotor activity drugs as the phenothiazines. A person with an obsessive-compulsive neurosis manifests obsessive ideas, pervasive doubts, and compulsive rituals, such as repeated hand washing or checking to see that the gas or lights have been turned off.

Abnormal speech. Like abnormalities in motor activity, abnormalities in speech are associated with particular disorders. Mutism is the refusal to speak for conscious or unconscious reasons and is often present in severely psychotic patients. Aphasia refers to a loss of previously possessed facility of language comprehension. Amnestic aphasia is the loss of the ability to name objects; in Broca’s aphasia, the loss of the ability to produce spoken and written language, with comprehension retained; and Wernicke’s aphasia, the loss of ability to comprehend language.

Closing the Interview

Toward the end of the interview, the doctor should say’ Our time is about up or We have about five minutes left. This gives patients a chance to regroup and to add other things that they may not have mentioned yet.

Don’t feel bad about ending an interview. The doctor can always come back. If something seemingly important is brought up the end, you can say We will have to stop, but perhaps the patient would like to talk about that next time. Sometimes the doctor gives the patient a short summary of what has taken place in the interview, but this is not always necessary. Whether or not to summarize at the end of each interview is something to be judged with each patient. In closing, the doctor ends it with a statement such as, Well, we got a little more understanding of your past life today, which can give a patient a good feeling without promising too much. Many patients do not ask for anything at the end of an interview. They feel relieved by having someone listen to them and by being able to express some of their feeling. This probably is true with most patients and they need no closing statement about what might have happened in the interview.

Multiaxial System

The APA (2000) endorses case evaluation on a Multi-axial System, to facilitate comprehensive and systematic evaluation with attention to the various mental disorders and general medical conditions, psychosocial and environmental problems, and level of functioning that might be overlooked if the focus were on assessing a single presenting problem. Each individual is evaluated on five exes.

They’re defined by the DSM-IV-TR in the following manner:

• Axis I- Clinical Disorders and Other conditions that may be a focus on Clinical Attention. This includes all mental disorders (except personality disorders and mental retardation).

• Axis II- Personality Disorders and Mental Retardation. These conditions persist in a stable form into adult life.

• Axis III-General Medical Conditions. These include any current general medical condition that is potentially relevant to the understanding or management of the individual’s mental disorder.

• Axis IV- Psychosocial and Enviromental Problems. These are problems that may affect the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of mental disorders named on axes I and II.

• Axis V- Global Assessment of Functioning. This allows the clinician to rate the individual’s overall functioning on the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale.

Chapter 1: Psychiatric Interview Examination Review

1. Identify the emotional state of mood and affect outlines in the Mental Status Examination.

A. Range of emotional expression

B. Appropriateness of emotions

C. Biological indicators of affect

D. All of the above

2. What important functions is diagnosed in the psychiatric interview?

A. Create an atmosphere for mutual exploration in which the patient feels free to say what is on his or her mind

B. Argue with the patient concerning his diagnosis

C. Gather information without asking questions during the interview

D. Stop the conversation periodically to summarize key points

3. What disturbances in attitude will alert the examiner to specific diagnostic possibilities?

A. The reserved, remote, and unfeeling attitude of the depressed person

B. The resistant, uncooperative attitude of the schizophrenic

C. The uncooperativeness or impatience of depressed patient

D. The apprehensive attitude of the patient suffering from acute anxiety neurosis

4. Memory may be defined as the ability to recall to consciousness previously registered experiences and information. Which symptom involves past events and is not usually progressive?

A. Hysterical amnesia

B. Anterograde amnesia

C. Retrograde amnesia

D. Fugue amnesia

5. In bringing the initial session to a close, what advice is given for the examiner?

A. Cut the patient off in the middle of an important part of his history so that he will have a thought to conclude next appointment

B. Close by saying, Let’s continue here the next time.

C. Notify the patient every 15 minutes that the hour is up

D. Avoid seeing the patient again by summarizing the appointment every 15 minutes

6. In order to capture more of the complexity of real patients, DSM-5 allows then to be described in multiple axes, which basically correspond to domains of function.

A. Axis I: Personality disorders

B. Axis II: Clinical syndromes and V codes

C. Axis III: Psychosocial and environmental problems

D. Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning

7. What is an insistent, repetitive, intrusive, and unwanted urge to perform an act that is contrary to the person’s ordinary wishes or standards?

A. Dipsomania

B. Compulsion

C. Necromania

D. Catalepsy

8. What temporary loss of muscle tone and weakness, may be precipitated by laughter, anger, or surprise?

A. Stereotypy

B. Akathisia

C. Cataplexy

D. Hyperkinesia

9. Manic patients may be in constant motion with an apparent inexhaustible supply of energy. Which diagnosis describes the inability to walk or stand, both that are associated with hysterical conversion?

A. Astasia-abasia

B. Hysterical aphona

C. Catatonic excitement

D. Psychomotor retardation

10. Which abnormality in speech defines the refusal to speak for conscious or unconscious reasons and is often present in severely psychotic patients?

A. Punning and rhyming

B. Verbigeration

C. Mutism

D. Aphasia

Chapter 1: Psychiatric Interview Examination Answers

1. D

2. A

3. D

4. C

5. B

6. D

7. B

8. C

9. A

10. C

Chapter 2

Biopsychosocial Perspective

What is a diagnostic formulation? It is as close an approximation to understanding the whole person as a psychiatrist initially can achieve. It is a comprehensive attempt to utilize the bio-psychosocial model (Engell 1977) in a practical clinical manner. Most important, perhaps the diagnostic formulation embodies all that is unique about psychiatry-for no other discipline strives so rigorously to uncover and integrate biological, psychological, and social components of mental illness.

Though significant in all medical specialties, the quality of the doctor-patient relationship becomes crucial in the practice pf psychiatry. Distinctive features of the psychiatric interview include examining feelings bout significant events in the individual’s life, identifying significant persons and their relationship of the patient in the course of this or her life, and identifying and tracing the major influences in the biological, psychological, and social development of the individual (Weissman, 1933).

The diagnostic formulation must consider a host of factors related to the patient’s psychiatric symptoms. In the biopsychosocial model the doctor patient relationship is one of the main tools for evaluation and therapy. The mental health field is far from a complete understanding of the biological, psychological, and sociocultural bases of development, but development clearly involves interplay among these influences.

How can the psychiatrist utilize the biopsychosocial model in understanding the patient? What are the bio-, psycho-, and social- parts of this model? What are the practical instances in which this model is useful? The cross-cultural interview has the potential of a more rewarding outcome because of altered expectations and heightened interest, concentration, and awareness. Lefley (1990) has summarized the many ways in which culture may affect chronic mental illness. The three groups that will be discussed in this section are the poor (a social group), Blacks, and Spanish-speaking groups. These three are the largest and some of the general comments about interviewing patient’s form these groups may apply to others. Most physicians and medical students in the United States come from middle class backgrounds, speak English as their primary language, are white, and are obviously well-educated. However, the majority fo people that medical students will have as patient’s during their years in training are form the lower class (medically indigent) and often are poorly educated. Blacks and other minority groups are overrepresented among the medically indigent. Thus, the interview across social class, cultural, and language differences is important. When the patient is form the same social class and ethnic group as the treating psychiatrist, therapy is often successful. (Foulks, 1980).

Do such socioeconomic or ethnic factors actually influence psychiatric diagnosis? Some research suggests that Blacks and other minorities are more often misdiagnosed than whites (Adebimpe 1981; Mukherjee et al 1982). The social part of our biopsychosocial approach also deals with the family unit, education and socioeconomic status, peer group relations, life stresses, and social role. The consequences of these factors showed an association between low socioeconomic status and the incidence of mental illness. In addition, Durkheim’s (1897/ 1951) seminal investigation showed an inverse relationship between suicide and the individual’s degree of integration into a network of enduring ties. More recently – and perhaps, more unexpectedly- Waitzkin (1984) has shown that doctor-patient communication is influenced by socioeconomic factors. Specifically, the increased likelihood of hallucinations in Black and Hispanic patients with bipolar disorder may contribute to the misdiagnosis of schizophrenia in these groups (Lawson 1986).

Evan objective evidence may lead us into diagnostic error. For example, because the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was not standardized on a Black population, Blacks tend to score higher on the paranoia and schizophrenia scales than do whites (Gyunther 1982).

Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF)

The patients highest level of social, occupational, and psychological functioning according to the GAF scale (Table 1-2). Examiners should use the 12 months prior to the current evaluation as a reference point and rate from 0 (inadequate information) to 1 (lowest) to 100 (highest).

Axis IV. Severity of Psychosocial Stressor. Rate the severity of stress in the patient’s life. Use the twelve months prior to the current evaluation as a reference. Use codes 1 (none) to 6 (catastrophic).

Axis V. Global Assessment of Functioning. Rate the highest level of functioning of the patient according to Table 1-2.

Let us now try to bring together a number of ethnic, social, and socioeconomic factors in a clinical vignette.

VIGNETTE

During the first few sessions of an evaluation, a 33 year old woman experienced great difficulty speaking to the doctor. She entered the office and immediately began to cry. She expressed confusion over her fear of the doctor and her inability to talk to him. When she apologized for her loss of control, the doctor waited patiently for her to regain her composure and encouraged her to express all her feelings. The patient’s brother accompanied her and provided some information. She carried the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder based on her behavior was impulsive, labile, and often violent. She had several arrests for shoplifting and disorderly conduct. In addition, to charges she incurred while on active duty, she complained of frequent bouts of anxiety and depression. A school history revealed an inability to sit still in class, difficulty with attention, and rowdy behavior on the playground. Her parents related the patient’s inability as a child to watch television, for more than 5 minutes at a stretch. She participated in psychotherapy while in active duty, which revealed an inability to sit still in sessions, difficulty with attention, and rowdy behavior before and after sessions. A diagnosis of adult attention deficit disorder was made.

DISCUSSION. How do cultural factors impinge on a psychiatric diagnosis? The patient in this vignette was clearly depressed and in need of treatment, regardless of the cultural nuances in her belief system. There is good evidence that attention-deficit disorder has a strong biological component. Consequently, this patient has several sociocultural risk factors that predispose her to depressive illness. For example, her status as an immigrant, recent loss of job, and break up with her boyfriend. In addition, the family history revealed that the patient’s father had died when the patient was 7 years old, and that afterward the patient seemingly became more withdrawn.

The Biopsychosocial Model

In 1960, George Engel, MD began to elaborate a unified concept of health and disease- a concept that evolved the biopsychosocial model. This model posits that whether a cell or a person, every system is influenced by the continuation of the systems of which each is a part (e.g., one’s family, community, culture, and nation). It is not my intention to elaborate on Engel’s concept, but to provide the specific clinical underpinnings of his model. What are the bio, psycho and social parts of this model? An important component of the bio part of this model is the intercurrent physical illness that may be affecting the patient’s psyche. There is good evidence that attention deficit disorder has a strong biological component, as is also the care with Tourette’s disorder. However, both conditions are affected by and in turn, affect the psychosocial milieu in which the child or adolescent develops. The biological part of the bio-psychosocial model is heavily influenced by a variety of neuroendocrine disorders (Box 2-1).

BOX 2-1. Neuroendocrine Disorders with

Psychiatric Complications

• Hyper-, hypothyroidism

• Hyper-, hypoparathyroidism

• Adrenocortical insufficiency (Addison’s Disease)

• Adrenocortical excess (Cushing’s Syndrome)

• Pheochromocytoma

• Diabetes Mellitus

• Insulinoma

For example, a patient who becomes aware that he or she has a chronic unremitting illness may undergo a period of marked depression or regression. Let us summarize the biological component of our biopsychosocial model. The diagnostic formulation must consider a host of biomedical factors related to the patient’s psychiatric symptoms. These include genetic endowment; pre-, post-, and neonatal traumata; neurological illness; neuroendocrine disorders; intercurrent medical illness; and substance abuse or withdrawal.

The ego psychosocial model emphasizes the defensive compromises mediated by the ego. For example, such compromises may occur in mediating among primitive wishes, superego constraints, and the demands of reality. This model is directly linked to Mac Kinnon’s description of the ego functions. Thus the symptoms we develop are determined by the characteristic ego defenses at our disposal. The ego-psychological model explores these defenses in relation to the individual’s unconscious wishes and fears. On some such days he would have angry outburst, shouting at his therapist, You must be the most incompetent jerk in the whole damn field. The psychiatrist encourages a free-flowing exchange with the patient and then at the conclusion of the interview’ arrives at a diagnostic formulation of the patient’s problems. The more accurate the diagnostic assessment, the more appropriate the treatment planning (Halleck, 1991).

Ego Functions in Psychiatry.

A complete psychological understanding of the patient would include and appraisal of these functions, as well as the psychodynamic formulation- that is, the understanding of the core conflict. In which, the ego functions are outlined. The clinician can compress an assessment of these functions intoduce 16 basic questions, as follows:

Defense Formation

1. Do the patient’s defense mechanisms successfully mediate between the id and superego demands?

2. Are the patient’s defenses mainly primitive or mature?

Regulation and control of drives, affects and impulses

1. Can the patient tolerate delay, tension, and frustration?

2. Can the patient sublimate- that is, channel drives into acceptable substitute behaviors?

Relationship to others

1. Can the patient experience others as whole persons with both good and bad traits?

2. Can the patient form emotionally rich and enduring relationship?

Self- Representation/ Self-Esteem

1. Does the patient have a reasonable degree fo self-confidence and self-esteem?

2. Does the patient possess a balanced, holistic sense of self, incorporating both good and bad traits?

Synthetic-Intergrative Functioning

1. Can the patient reconcile inconsistent or contradictory aspects of self and others, and act appropriately in the face of such contradictions?

2. Can the patient integrate knowing gained form new experiences in a constructive way?

Stimulus Regulation

1. Can the patient screen out extraneous or excessive stimuli in order to pursue constructive goals (e.g, reading, job task, etc)?

2. Can the patient provide sufficient stimulation to maintain intra-psychic and interpersonal stability?

Adaptive regression in the service of the ego

1. Can the patient relax enough to enjoy sex, music, hobbles, and so forth?

2. Is the patient open to new experiences in these areas?

Reality testing and sense of reality

1. Can the patient maintain adequate boundaries between self and others?

2. Can the patient reason objectively to distinguish wish or imagination form external reality?

Chapter 2: Biopsychosocial Perspective Examination Review

Match the following parts of their functions described in the right hand column.

Select the answer that is most appropriate for each of the following questions:

8. At a synapse, the determination of further impulse transmission is accomplished by means of

A. Potassium ions

B. Interneurons

C. Neurotransmitters

D. The myelin sheath

9. A decrease in which of the following neurotransmitters has been implicated in depression?

A. GABA, acetylcholine, and aspartate

B. Norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine

C. Somatostatin, substance P, and glycine

D. Glutamate, histamine, and opioid peptides

10. The delusional belief that one is loved by another, usually a person higher social status who is, at most, a casual acquaintance of the person.

A. Erotomania

B. Socioeconomic factors

C. Cultural sensitivity

D. Depersonalization

Chapter 2: Biopsychosocial Perspective Examination Answers

1. C

2. E

3. F

4. B

5. D

6. G

7. A

8. C

9. B

10. A

Chapter 3

Specific Interviewing Situations

Information about patient symptoms is necessary before a diagnosis is made, but it is not sufficient for effective treatment. A broader aim of the interview is to understand the patient more fully and to develop hypotheses about personality, life experiences, assets and liabilities, and reactions to illness. Starting an interview, with an open-ended question facilities the diagnostic process, because the answer that the patient chooses to give in response to the open-ended question has a special significance.

The Veteran Patient

The Veterans Administration (VA) of the United States has been forced to come to grips with the problem of an explosive increase in health care costs for veterans. Since the Veterans Administration serves veteran who have had wartime service. Its population of beneficiaries is not a smooth bell-shaped curve, but rather centers around certain wartime periods. These activities increased and in the 1930s the Veterans Administration was established. The Veterans Administration originated in the closing decades of the 19th century when, after a presidential edict issued by President Lincoln, six national homes for disabled volunteers soldiers were established to care for the veterans of the Civil and Indian wars who could no longer defray the cost of their medical care and whose injuries prevented them from earing a livelihood.

Following World War II the VA saw a great influx of new patients as it entered a period of rapid physical expansion. For example, the veterans of World War II, who number approximately 12 million, are in 1985, 65 years of age and older. The total number will eventually decline, but the umber and percentage of aging will continue t increase (Durham +Hopkins 1983; Mather+ Lawson 1984). In the decades following the close of World War II, the schools of medicine so this country and various VA hospitals became closely affiliated with medical schools. The VA’s interest in continuous care for older veterans is relatively new. In 1964 Public Law 88-450 was passed, which mandated that the VA begin to address the problem of the aging veterans (Program + Analysis service, 1964).

The Anxious Patient

With patients who have high anxiety, one must continue to use a more directive interview. Sitting silently waiting for a frightened patient to respond only adds to the tension; therefore, the first interview with these patient may well be a series of direct questions may well be a series of direct questions with the patient replying with short answers. If a patient is fidgety, restless, or easily startled, seems nervous, or has a tremor in his or her voice, the patient may be anxious. Proceeding with the interview may be difficult until the anxiety is discussed. (see section three). In any instance of patient anxiety, the prescription is the same: the physician’s responsibility is the elicit the source of the patient’s concern, understand it, and take appropriate measures to diminish it. Patients get angry for numerous reasons, but they can be conveniently grouped into two categories. First, a patient may be angry because of something said or not done. The second possibility is that the patient is the source of the anger and would be angry whether or not the physician did something provocative.

Some patients’ anxiety in the interview is great enough to be incapacitating. These patients need special help to feel more comfortable and enter into the interaction of the interview. Patients are often frightened by their illnesses or by the proposed treatments and may use anger as a means of both discharging and denying such anxiety. Certain patients may never achieve this degree of comfort, but most can and there are ways of helping to reduce the anxiety. Since anxiety begets anxiety, the interview must be a t least minimally comfortable while interviewing. This doesn’t mean free of anxiety. If students are aware of their anxiety, they can control it better and realize that it need not interfere too much with the relationship with the patient. Before discussing some ways of relieving a patient’s anxiety, we should say something about anxiety itself.

Anxiety and fear have identical manifestations. Fear is defined as a response to a real danger. Anxiety, although having the same physiologic response, is defined as the fear of an imagined threat. Anxiety can diffuse or specific. With diffuse anxiety, we feel anxious but do not know why. There is a reason or reasons for the fear, but for the moment we are unaware of those reasons. Specific anxiety relates to something a person is afraid of, but knows there is no reason to be afraid.

An important anxiety symptom of the individual/ psychological domain is anger/fear. More specifically, the problem of identifying, feeling, and expressing these two powerful emotions occurs. Anger has the most face validity when discussing violence, particularly in the public’s mind; that is, it seems logical to think of anger when one thinks of violence. But fear is a bit different. How could this emotion relate to violence? Well, think for a minute what happens when the patient is angry or scared. Both emotional states invoke deep feeling, and the feeling is also accompanied by a high state of autonomic arousal, especially if there is an imminent, life threatening event: pulse rate quickens, blood pressure increases, skin flushes, and muscles tense. The ideal way to handle an angry patient is to make a concerted effort to understand the nature of the anger. If a patient is covertly angry, the appropriate response of the physician is to use the technique of confrontation, just as a physician would do in the case of the patient’s acknowledged anxiety or depression.

The Hostile Patient

In an occasional patient, hostility may get out of control. These patients are most often encountered in the emergency room or on a psychiatry inpatient service. They may have been brought in against their will or they may have come voluntarily because of their own fear of their violent impulses. We are most concerned here with hostility that threatens a constructive doctor-patient interaction, not the kind that results in physical violence. Possible diagnosis is frequently paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar mania, or an organic mental