Reddit reviews Clinician's Thesaurus, 7th Edition: The Guide to Conducting Interviews and Writing Psychological Reports

Hey, I am so glad you are asking for help with this. It is an area that most med students struggle with, but not many are conscientious enough to ask for help. We really need more doctors in all specialties who can talk to patients comfortably about psychiatric issues, rather than merely calling a psych consult because "patient is tearful"

-I try to let the patient tell me his or her story in the way that feels most natural to them, so I try to aim for at least 5 min of them explaining HPI before interrupting them. That is usually enough to convey the gist of why they are here, but not so long that you get derailed. You'll have to be flexible here - they will give you their history all out of order. It is helpful to have a preprinted template on hand, so you can jot notes and revisit later.

-I usually start my interviews with a bit of social history rather than delving into chief complaint or HPI. It's not how we are taught to do it in med school, but it seems to feel more comfortable for patients when their doctor knows more about their background. Depends on the context of the interview. If you're in the psych emergency room, you may need to be more concise here than you might on say, inpatient psych or consult service.

-Child cases are tricky, but with practice, you'll get the hang of asking parents to step out of the room. There are several lines you might practice using, but as you're asking the parent to leave, emphasize that you will be sure to leave plenty of time at the end of the interview to come together as a group to discuss the treatment plan and answer any questions they might have. Some children don't want to be left alone at all, and that is ok. I really try to get at least a few sentences out of them at each session though, rather than letting the parent do all the talking.

-This book by Daniel Carlat was very helpful to me as an intern. I received a copy of this book as a senior resident, and wish I had gotten ahold of it sooner.

-Keep practicing your interviews. Remember that you will not hurt patients by talking to them. It can often be therapeutic for a patient to simply feel that another human being understands them. Just remember not to butt in during an attending or senior's interview, and wait until they turn to you and ask if you have additional questions for the patient. Remember that you are a valuable member of the team! I found med students useful for so much more than scutwork during residency.

Best of luck to you in your studies, and if you choose to go into psych, or have any other questions at all, please feel free to PM me!

From a clinical psychologist's perspective - affect is what we can observe in another person, while mood/emotion is what the person reports that they're feeling (and which a third party can't directly observe).

For example, if a person says that he feels fine, but I observe him to be fidgeting and talking really fast, I'd say "he reported an 'ok' mood, but presented with anxious affect."

EDIT: I'm sorry that I forgot to include a source! There are a few conflicting definitions out there, but this is the definition that we used in my program (a scientist-practitioner clinical psychology phd program), as well as at all of the clinical sites I've ever worked at (medical centers, VA hospitals, private practice). This definition is outlined by Trzepacz & Baker (1993) in chapter 3 of The Psychiatric Mental Status Examination. (If you search for "affect," you should be able to read chapter 3 in its entirety.)

The Clinician's Thesaurus is another good resource. The pdf is available here - take a look at the first page of chapter 10, on page 132 (153 of the pdf).

If you do not have much experience with psychiatric interview, I highly reccomend this book.
And to write awesome reports you should use this.