a method of obtaining information about individual psychological properties of a person, psychological phenomena and psychopathological symptoms and syndromes, the internal picture of the patient’s disease and the structure of his problem, as well as a method of psychological influence on a person, produced directly on the basis of personal contact between the psychologist and the client. An interview differs from ordinary questioning in that it is aimed not only at the client’s active complaints, but also at identifying the hidden motives of the person’s behavior and helping him to realize the true (internal) grounds for the altered mental state.