ABSTRACT
There are innumerable ways of proceeding in an assessment interview, depending both on the assessor's way of working and on the problems presented by each individual patient. The assessor's task is to gather sufficient information to discover why this person is seeking help, what are his expectations of psychotherapy as a treatment for his problems, what are the key symptoms and difficulties that have made him take action, and why. In the introduction to The Art and Science of Assessment in Psychotherapy, Mace states: Set alongside the ordinary work of psychotherapy, "assessment" carries an aura of heightened precision and objectivity. In describing a psychodynamic formulation in assessing a patient for psychotherapy, Hinshelwood focuses on three areas of object relationships: the current life situation, the early infantile relations, and the transference relationship. The assessment process has begun long before "the two strangers" meet in the consulting-room.
