Good job! Now you have reviewed the major interview skill elements. When you interview patients in your clinical practice, you can either adopt some of these techniques I demonstrated or find your own approach using the skills described. Either way, it's important to try different ways of asking the questions to see what feels most comfortable to you and your patients.

Whatever approach you use, try to incorporate the seven skill elements listed in your handout:

•  Reassure patient that depressed feelings are common.
•  Use commonly understood terms.
•  Ask for recall.
•  Ask about history of mental illness and treatment.
•  "Normalize" the questions by drawing parallels to other medical parts of the interview.
•  Use open-ended questions.
•  Be ready to give some guidance.