The Positive Assessment: A Model for Integrating Well-Being and Strengths-Based Approaches into the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinical Evaluation.

In traditional medical practice, the diagnostic interview is focused on symptom collection, diagnosis, and treatment. The psychiatric interview is based on the medical model, but mental health clinicians lack the tests found in general medicine. Rapport is the most essential tool for the psychiatrist to uncover symptoms and develop a diagnosis and treatment plan. This article brings a scientific lens to the psychiatric interview. Under this microscope the value of eliciting the patient's well-being at the outset of the interview becomes clear. Using positive psychology, an evidenced-based rationale for the positive assessment is outlined and methodology and practice of the assessment reviewed.