The British Journal of Psychiatry 152: 64-72 (1988)
© 1988 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Psychiatric interviewing techniques. A second experimental study: eliciting feelings
A Cox, M Rutter and D Holbrook
University of Liverpool.
The effects of two experimental interview styles, designed to differ in the
extent of their use of active feeling-oriented techniques but similar in
their use of active fact-oriented techniques, were compared in initial
diagnostic interviews with the mothers of children referred to a
psychiatric clinic. The style that employed a higher level of actively
responsive feeling-oriented techniques elicited more emotional expression
and more often obtained certain feelings of potential diagnostic
significance. The actively responsive style was more effective in
increasing the amount of feeling expressed if mothers' spontaneous rate of
expression was relatively low.