Structured Intake Interview Essay

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To assess the patient, I would first conduct a structured intake interview to gather insight to the patient’s social and family history. The intake interview will also cover the patient’s current mental status and identify the presenting problem that the patient has at the moment. A close observation of the patient’s behaviors during the intake interview will be taken as well. (Horowitz, Rosenburg, Baer, Ureño, & Villaseñor, 1988) The next tests that I would conduct will be directly targeted for assessing the level of depression the patient is experiencing. The first test that will be given is the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). The BDI-II is a twenty-one question survey that the patient will be given and asked to rate his thoughts, behaviors, and physical symptoms as he is experiencing them at the time. Once scored, the severity of the patient’s depression will be able to be determined. (Brown, Hammen, Craske, & Wickens, 1995) (Beck, Steer, Ball, Ranieri, 1999) The second test that I would use to screen for depression is the …show more content…

For this reason, I would like to give the patient a test known as the Adult ADHD Investigator Symptom Rating Scale (ASRIS) to clarify any additional presenting problems that are related to the symptoms of ADHD in adulthood. This rating scale consists of eighteen items that the patient will rate himself from having the symptom in terms of none, mild, moderate, to severe and is given each time the patient comes to treatment. (Spencer et al., 2007) Although the main presenting problem in the patient is depression, the link between depression and ADHD is far too common. (Sobanski, 2006) If these tests show that comorbidity of the patient holds two significantly equal disorders, then therapy handling both disorders is recommended. However, if one disorder is more prevalent, therapy should address it more

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