THE PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT AS HIS OWN HISTORIAN

The social history questionnaire is not a substitute for, nor can it be favorably compared to history-taking in a personal interview. Yet we feel that it is a legitimate diagnostic instrument in certain situations. That is to say, the questionnaire is preferable to sparse information gathered in a hasty manner or to no history at all. The time it saves, the prime material it offers, its built-in supervisory features, and its therapeutic possibilities may counterbalance the impersonality and superficiality of a form. We are presenting our SASH (Self-Administered Social History) in the hope that others will do likewise, and that certain optimum history questionnaires and questions might be developed.