A Modern Classic

Reviews the book, The Psychiatric Interview in Clinical Practice (2nd ed.) by Roger A. MacKinnon, Robert Michels, and Peter J. Buckley (see record 2006-08289-000). According to Hong, this book is a primer about the interviewing skills of mental health professionals and patients. These clinical chapters go far beyond giving advice for getting the right diagnosis and the enumeration of criterion-based symptoms, and they get to the “person” behind the diagnosis. Although there are three authors, they write with a common voice that reveals shared, universal principles of patient care. One of the unique features of the book is that it uses the personality diagnoses that originated in the earlier DSM references. The current criteria for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) personality diagnoses also are provided in the text. Patients with all of the major personality disorders are discussed, including patients who are obsessive-compulsive, histrionic, narcissistic, depressed, antisocial, paranoid patient, psychotic, or psychosomatic; have anxiety disorder; have experienced trauma; have borderline personality disorder; or are cognitively impaired. Hong notes that this book covers with great skill and sensitivity major issues in psychotherapy and the management of patients. It is written from a psychodynamic point of view, which may be an obstacle for some readers, but it should be of interest and value to psychotherapists of all orientations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)