The Psychiatric Interview is straightforward, practical, and wise, yet often light-hearted and funny, a breath of fresh air where comparable references have often been boring and ponderous. It brims with extraordinary gifts for its readers. It is a scholarly review of the research literature, yet it moves swiftly and has a light, even jaunty, tone. It is very much up-to-date and serves as a useful introduction to many ideas, such as those from psychodynamics, that are not widely available to contemporary students.
Best of all, the book is alive, an extraordinary achievement in view of the amount of detailed material presented. It emphasizes the person within the patient and the need to form an alliance with that person to secure reliable information and cooperation in treatment. We feel the patients presented by Dr. Carlat; they are not simply diagnoses. Dr. Carlat offsets the profession's reputation for being cheerless and pathology-minded; he illustrates many ways by which effective relationships can be formed and shows how relationships that are endangered can be repaired, perhaps especially at the close of an interview.
The Psychiatric Interview is designed in an easily accessible format, with aids for memory, appendixes for organizing information, and sensible guides for recordkeeping. This is teaching by example at its best, with the examples both vivid and pointed, so that they stick in the reader's mind.
Truly understanding another human being is a daunting challenge, yet nothing is more important if we are to soothe the suffering of a ravaged soul. Use this book as a guide to reach for that understanding.
Leston Havens M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School, The Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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