Introduction

Psychiatric assessment includes a structured clinical conversation, complemented by observation and mental state examination and supplemented by a physical examination and the interview of other informants when appropriate. The information obtained from the patient varies according to the availability of time, purpose of assessment, seriousness or urgency of the problem presented by the patient, and site of evaluation. Collecting information about a patient can be done through one or more of the following approaches: psychiatric interview, patient observation, interview of collateral sources, and working with multidisciplinary teams. A psychiatrist should find a balance between letting the patient tell his/her story in his/her own words and obtaining information necessary for a diagnosis. In an insight-oriented therapeutic interview, the therapist attempts to make the patient aware of his/her defenses, their underlying mechanism, and their unconscious origins, with the expectation that the patient will replace his/her defensive behavior with a more reality oriented behavior.