Psychiatric Interview for Differential Diagnosis

Lennart Jansson, MD, associate professor, graduated from Copenhagen University in 1977, and currently employed at Glostrup Mental Health Center (formerly Psychiatric Center Hvidovre). He completed his specialization in psychiatry at Kommunehospitalet and other Copenhagen area hospitals. Dr. Jansson participated in the US-Denmark schizophrenia adoption studies (the provincial sample). In collaboration with prof. Josef Parnas, he contributed to the development of the EASE instrument (Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience) for early detection of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. He has been involved in research especially in psychopathology and nosology. Until recently, he worked for many years as a consultant at a first-admission unit specialized in examining young adults for schizophrenia spectrum psychopathology, and is still occupied as a consultant with similar clinical work. Dr. Jansson is course leader in psychopathology under the Danish psychiatric specialist education, and teaches on expert level in many other contexts such as the psychiatric specialist education for psychologists and international EASE educational courses.Julie Nordgaard, MD, PhD graduated from Copenhagen University in 2001. She is senior consultant at Early Psychosis Intervention Center in Region Zealand and Associate Professor at University of Copenhagen. She is chairman for Institute of Psychopathology (Denmark) and Danish director of all EASE (scale for examination of anomalous self-experiences) related activities.Dr. Nordgaard completed her specialization in psychiatry at university hospitals in Copenhagen. Clinically she has specialized in schizophrenia spectrum disorders and psychopathological assessment of first admission patients. The key point for her research has been psychopathology and the psychiatric diagnostic interview from a phenomenologically informed base, themes she continues to pursue. Her PhD from 2012 concerned empirical and theoretical aspects of the psychiatric interview. Dr. Nordgaard teaches at expert level in psychopathology and the psychiatric interview, both internationally and domestic: she is course leader of the international EASE educational courses, and teaches psychopathology at the Danish psychiatric specialist education, at the mandatory training program for Danish psychiatrists of psychiatrist, and in a range of other contexts.

• Phenomenology of psychiatric interviewing.- The nature of the psychiatric object: Symptoms and signs.- Prototype and Gestalt.- Consciousness.- Experience, Expression, and Language.- Conducting the psychiatric interview.- The goal of interviewing.- Conversational approach.- Semistructured approach.- Mental State Examination.- The difficult interview.- Psychopathology: Navigating between the spectra: organic, schizophrenia, affective, personality, situational problems.- Considering organic pathology.- Indicators of psychosis.- Varieties of depression-like mental states.- Varieties of anxiety.- Acute psychosis and bipolar disorder.- Detecting disordered personality pattern.- Thinking adult in adolescent psychiatry.

“This book focuses on the broadening decline of psychiatric clinical knowledge and the framework for diagnostic interviews. … The purpose is to fill a gap in the psychiatric literature on the clinical interview. … The book primarily targets clinical psychiatrists and psychologists, in addition to researchers, to help them refine their diagnostic skills and psychopathological definitions. It also will be helpful to students and psychiatric residents who wish to better understand symptom presentation and differential diagnosis.” (Michael Easton, Doody's Book Reviews, December, 2016)