MedicinePsychiatryAdult PsychiatryCommunity PsychiatryTherapeutic CommunicationClinical InterviewingPatient ExperienceDropoutPatient-clinician CommunicationPsychiatric Interview
Large psychiatric walk-in clinics and community mental health centers have been swamped with patients whose orientations are worlds apart from the professionals who serve them. It has been a challenge to conduct these operations for the benefit of the clientele, composed mainly of poor people, communication being what it is. When at the same time there is responsibility for good teaching, the difficulty is compounded. In the current issue of Archives of General Psychiatry 32:553-558, 1975), Lazare and co-workers have faced this challenge and report on the process of negotiation between clinician and patient in the initial psychiatric interview in a busy walk-in clinic. Dropout rates as high as 60% have been reported after the first interview in some of these clinics. The goal of these authors was to compensate for the social differential between patient and therapist, to render improved patient care, to improve staff morale, and to teach