Psychotherapeutic Interviewing Basics
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ScribdTranslationsPsychotherapeutic Interviewing Basics
Translated by
ScribdTranslationsChapter I:
General Aspects of Psychotherapeutic Interviewing and Counseling
General conditions of the therapeutic interview
The therapeutic interview is an interpersonal meeting that offers people the
opportunity to redefine themselves and make what they desire for their lives possible.
The Psychotherapeutic Interview: Concept
The therapeutic interview is a verbal and non-verbal exchange, face to face, where
someone referred to as the interviewer tries to obtain information, opinions, or attitudes
from the interviewees to help them understand themselves better and learn to think,
to feel and act in a more satisfying and less contradictory way, improving their levels
adaptive and overcoming the symptoms that motivate their demands for help.
Difference between Psychotherapy and Counseling
Psychotherapy deals with the application of procedures to modify patterns of
thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that have been identified as distorted,
dysfunctional or inoperative, the counseling psychologists more often deal with
the "normal" adjustment problems that we all suffer at some point in our lives
lives.
According to Morris and Maisto (2001), both psychotherapists and counselors share their time.
in two fundamental activities:
They provide treatment to patients and investigate the causes of disorders.
psychological.
They evaluate the effectiveness of various types of psychotherapy procedures and of
counseling.
Bordin (1979) for this author, counseling is designed to help people whose
disruptions have not become as severe and those people who are in a
critical stage of development.
Bordin also highlighted a quantitative distinction rather than a qualitative one when he states that the
counseling is characterized by a much lower intensity of emotional expression and a
relatively greater emphasis on cognitive and rational factors than those that exist in the
relationship in psychotherapy.
Mawrer, cited by Patterson (1977), seems to agree with Bordin when referring to
to counseling as a specialized professional help aimed at people who suffer.
totally conscious conflicts, which are accompanied by what is called normal anxiety.
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Patterson was very clear with a definition of counseling, which he referred to with the term
self-directed guidance, when it states that it focuses on helping the
essentially normal individuals, to remove the obstacles that hinder their maximum potential
development, more than addressing the emergency treatment of psychological disorders.
Super, cited by Patterson (1977) adds that counseling also deals with the
normalities of abnormal people. This means to locate and contribute with the
development of personal and social resources and adaptive trends so that they
can help the individual use them more effectively.
Difference between Therapeutic Interview and a Conversation
Both the interview and the conversation can coincide in some aspects. Both
they involve a verbal exchange, face to face. The messages are exchanged between the two
major known channels: the verbal and the non-verbal.
Weiner (1992) presented an interesting comparison between both procedures as
we see below:
CONVERSATION INTERVIEW
There may not be a central theme The content is aimed at a specific purpose
Of having unity, progression and continuity
theme.
To achieve the goal of the interview, one of the
participants must assume responsibility for
to guide the interaction and the other must follow the
direction of said interaction.
The interview is to provide benefit to the
interviewed.
The interviewer is willing to offer the client
well-defined services.
The interviewee can reveal a lot about the
multiple aspects of their life, the therapist must
limit his revelations to his professional life.
In a conversation a In an interview, the interviewer has acts.
a person can respond from deliberately and consciously conceived to
spontaneous and unforeseen way. contribute to the achievement of certain objectives.
The conversation is not The interview is scheduled to take place in
scheduled to develop a defined place and time.
in a place and a time
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defined.
Once started, it must end when it achieves its
purpose, or until it becomes evident that it cannot be
achieve.
It has nothing to do with fun, there is no need to
to evade unpleasant facts.
Role of the Interviewer and the Interviewee
The interview represents a framework of relationship in which the presence of the interviewee and the
The interviewer offers a result that exceeds the mechanical sum of the two.
Within the functions and roles of the interviewer, Kahn and Canner, cited by Winer (1992),
the following are listed:
The interviewer is a measure and evaluator who must direct and control the process of the
communication towards specific objects.
It should be clear about the purposes of the evaluation.
Through well-formed and important questions, it must ensure that communication
it develops according to the objectives.
In most cases, the interviewer must inform the client about their role.
A factor related to the functions and roles of the interviewer is those external
among these:
1- The cleanliness and care in dressing.
It is important that the therapist does not provoke a negative reaction in the client.
showing inappropriate appearance or behavior.
The interviewer must be skilled at interviewing.
4- The interviewer must be flexible in showing naivety or their condition of
expert.
5- It is advisable for the interviewer to behave like an expert.
6- Interviewers need a deep and updated knowledge of
normal, physical, and mental development of the human being.
The professional interviewer must maintain a certain neutrality regarding the
interviewed, without falling into indifference.
8- Establishing a good relationship with the interviewee does not imply that it is
too narrow, because this prevents the therapist from asking difficult questions,
but necessary for the process.
9- The interviewer must avoid narcissism, that is to say, taking advantage of power and control that
you exert in the interview, to impress the client with your knowledge and
experiences on the topic being discussed.
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10- A firm direction of the interview.
11- Intelligence, a variety of interests, and professional experience are the qualities
essential to establish empathy with a diversity of people.
12- Counteract attitudes of disinterest such as arriving late, yawning during the
sessions, interrupt, rush and appear insincere.
Role of the Interviewee
Being able to communicate, verbally express their feelings and ideas, and organize their
communication.
Attend the sections punctually.
Discipline in following the plans agreed upon in the interview
Show sincere collaboration with the interviewer.
Provide a non-defensive listening.
Acknowledge the responsibility for the problem presented.
The interviewer and the interviewee share the function of ensuring the
construction of a relational system that promotes the achievement or push of goals
agreed.
Who do the interviewees prefer?
In situations of difficulty and personal problems, clients prefer to
more affectionate interviewers, while in the areas of educational problems and
professionals, attention will be more focused on intellectual capacity and knowledge.
William H. Cormier and L. Cherilyn Cormier (1994) point out a series of attitudes and
skills that interviewers must achieve to enhance the quality of the relationship
therapeutic.
The interviewers who are able to convey and represent the aspects pointed out by
Carl Rogers as the 'essential conditions,' usually establish an appropriate
therapeutic relationship with the interviewees.
These essential conditions referred to by Roger have been presented by some.
authors as technical procedures susceptible to being strengthened in the programs of
development of skills. Others, on the other hand, argue that more than techniques or
procedures, the essential conditions are personal attitudes that some
interviewers possess.
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Who are the best candidates to benefit from an interview?
therapeutic and counseling?
The therapist must have enough flexibility to adjust their resources in such a way that the
interview to be beneficial for a wide range of people. Now, Strupp (1963)
It is believed that there is a higher probability of success if there is consistency between expectations.
mutual respect between the interviewer and the interviewee, and if the latter is intelligent, well-prepared,
capable of communicating their feelings and recognizing the psychological nature of their
problems and if you also want help of this kind.
Pope (1979) made a valuable recommendation for therapists to increase the
possibilities that the interview will become a valuable resource for the client.
The cited author warned about the danger of setting mental health goals in the process.
from the interviews that are nothing more than expressions of the values that gratify class a
that belongs to the therapist and does not take into account the client.
What reasons lead a person to consult a therapist or
counselor?
The most powerful motivational force to participate in a therapeutic interview is the
desire for change. This can have different directions. People want to do with
more frequency and with what they do not feel satisfied; reduce the frequency of something they do
more frequently and is causing problems, or maintain the same frequency
that which they do with an adequate frequency and in the correct context feeling
satisfied.
The importance of motivations in the interview is that they help to define goals.
of treatment, which can be categorized into three main areas:
Relieves emotional distress
2- Foster solutions for everyday life problems.
3- Reduce the conflicts and concerns of the individual that register the
leveraging their potential to carry out productive work and for
establish rewarding interpersonal relationships.
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Advantages of the interview over other methods of obtaining information
information
The interview is a procedure that, like all, has its advantages and
limitations.
In the first case, the advantages are several and beneficial, as Marcelo points out.
Villareal, from a behavioral perspective (1981) and we quote below:
I. The interview allows for direct and sufficiently adequate evaluation of the
verbal behavior of people.
II. Relevant and idiosyncratic data is known about various characteristics of
not our clients, data that for reasons of time would not be possible to obtain
by other means.
III. Provide information about relevant undercover conduct, which
interpretation would be very difficult to achieve by other methods.
IV. The interview can save time and effort because it allows us to
allows us to learn about the objective behaviors of each client.
V. It draws attention to the idiosyncratic reinforcers and pairings of
stimuli in the history of our clients, data that helps us to
to more effectively develop a modification or maintenance program of
behaviors.
VI. It represents an auxiliary technique necessary to identify relationships.
timely functional that allow selecting the most viable method or methods
to solve the problems.