Supervision

Individual and Group Supervision

(Evaluation of Clinical Interviews)

The clinical interview is based on the desire of the person suffering from mental distress, who feels the need to tell a specialist about the problems he has encountered in his life. The term ‘evaluation’ is used to refer to ‘clinical interview evaluation’, although it does not seem very appropriate because it suggests the control of good and bad traits in order to reach a decision on one’s values. However, value judgment has no place in a clinical interview; As the clinical interview progresses, the thought that pops up in the clinician’s mind should be neither condescending nor admiring. Often, a single interview is not enough for the psychologist to sense the complexity of the situation. Because the interviewee will talk, this conversation may not include topics that he avoids, does not think about, or overlooks. The second interview also allows the psychologist to reconstruct what he has suggested based on what he has listened to, what he has felt over time, and the first impression the person has made on himself (Chabert, Verdon, 2013, pp.11-12).

The interview can be carried out in a structured, that is, directed or even predetermined way, with a primary purpose. On the other hand, the psychologist, on the other hand, provides a framework that respects the preferences of the refugee, who cannot explain everything by himself, often does not feel the need to express himself, hides his resistance, forgetfulness, avoidance, is semi-directed, or does not have a predetermined subject or problem, the free association directive is applied. makes an undirected interview (Chabert, Verdon, 2013, p.13).  

The framework of the clinical interview is based on some data that has been more or less revealed. Except for exceptional cases such as group work or the participation of an assistant for the purpose of learning the profession, the interview must first be held within the limits of a certain formality that will protect the privacy of the sharing and in an environment where there are no third parties who may witness. The diversity of clinical situations and the uniqueness of mental functioning can lead to changes in the framework. The official framework also includes aspects such as the hours of the meeting, appointment frequency, duration and cost (Chabert, Verdon, 2013, p.14). There is an asymmetrical situation or relationship in the clinical interview, because while one of the parties talks about himself in every aspect, the other has to maintain a certain distance and attitude in terms of his/her past, feelings, thoughts and thoughts (Chabert, Verdon, 2013, p.15). Conducting a clinical interview is not just a compilation of information about distress or the temporal determination of events in an individual’s life; beyond that, an important part of its expansion requires attention to a mental functioning that cannot be understood by the patient (Chabert, Verdon, 2013, p.16). The psychologist’s neutrality in the interview can be quite soothing and inclusive for the patient. The point here is not to eliminate the artificial re-enactment of the expressed distress; the patient is made to look from afar at what is under his influence; On the occasion of his identification with the psychologist, he can concentrate on his own spiritual movements (Chabert, Verdon, 2013, p.18).

Regardless of the psychologist’s theoretical references, all clinical interviews contain transferential elements that activate the inner world. Transfer is a displacement, a relocation. Freud speaks of transference as the essential element of clinical relationship: “they are a copy, re-publishing of phantasies that can be awakened and made conscious during analysis, in which a previously known person is replaced by a doctor” (Chabert, Verdon, 2013, p.19). In other words, it is the perception of the therapist’s personality with some inaccurate distortions (McWilliams, 2014, p.21).

The psychologist’s being impartial during the interview with the patient does not mean that he acts insensitively; Situations such as pleasure and displeasure, doubt, and security do not disappear during and after the interview. Within the scope of analysis, countertransference is all of the unconscious reactions of the person doing the analysis (Chabert, Verdon, 2013, p.20). The concept of empathy, which is defined as the main material of clinical interviews, is a term used in the conceptualization of the capacity to hear the individual from the unconscious designs from the inside. Freud, the mechanism by which empathy helps us understand how we are positioned in the face of psychic life conditions that are alien to us in other individuals; he also stated that there is a special form of identification based on the similarities between the subject and the object (Soysal, 2014, pp.129-130). An important concept that is related to empathy and can be confused from time to time is identification, which is the child’s making it a part of his own behavioral repertoire by taking the behavior of adults as an example in the developmental process; It can be against family members, or it can be in the form of adopting the characteristics of people who will replace family members outside the family. Freud, on the other hand, sees identification as embracing one’s role in one’s life and benefiting from it. (Uluğ, 2014, p.7).

In summary, within the scope of the items briefly mentioned above, the inferences obtained during the clinical interview include the assumed reasons for the patient’s experience and behavior, such as symptoms, dreams, fantasies, and maladaptive interpersonal relationship patterns (Messer, Wolitzky, 2008, p.101).