My Favorite Tips for Uncovering Sensitive and Taboo Information from Antisocial Behavior to Suicidal Ideation

All sorts of resistances may predispose a patient to provide distorted information including anxiety, embarrassment, protecting family secrets, unconscious defense mechanisms such as rationalization and denial, fear of stigmatization, and conscious attempts to deceive. This article presents three clinical interviewing techniques for enhancing validity: the behavioral incident, gentle assumption, and symptom amplification. The article concludes with a brief description of the combined use of these validity techniques in a strategy for eliciting suicidal ideation, the Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events (the CASE Approach).