The first interviewChapter 9Sensitive subjects If your patient doesn’t mention sensitive topics spontaneously, you should bring them up. Don’t wait until the very end of the interview to do this. Delving into suicidal behaviour is a must. Nearly every mental health diagnosis confers some degree of suicide risk beyond what is found in the general population. If the patient raises the topic, you can pursue it with a degree of comfort. Unless your patient seems unusually uncomfortable, you don’t need to apologise if you ask this question yourself. If the patient says he hasn’t had any suicidal thoughts, and this seems to jibe with the patient’s mood and recent behaviour, you can accept this as a simple fact and move on. If the response is equivocal or delivered with telltale body language you must pursue the matter. If your questioning seems to cause discomfort, you may need to comment on the distress.If actual attempts occurred prior to this episode, memories may be dim. You should learn as much as you can about previous attempts. This can help you 1) predict what your patient might do next 2) assess what actions you should take.Get answers to these questions about previous attempts 1) how many have there been 2) when did they occur 3) where was the patient at the time? 4) what was the patients mood at the time? 5) what methods were used? 6) was the attempt under influence of drugs or alcohol? 7) did the patient have other mental disorders at the time? 8) what were the stressors that...