title: How psychiatrists should introduce themselves in the first consultation: an experimental study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  How psychiatrists introduce themselves in the first consultation may influence the therapeutic relationship. There is no evidence about what type of introduction patients prefer.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess experimentally patients' preferences for how psychiatrists introduce themselves.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve psychiatrists were filmed, each with three different introductions: stating name, profession and reason for consultation; the same, plus information on what will happen during the consultation; and the same, plus disclosure of a personal difficulty. Six randomly selected videos, of different psychiatrists, two of each type of introduction, were rated by each of 120 psychiatric in- and out-patients on Likert-type scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients gave the most positive ratings to psychiatrists who introduced themselves with information about what will happen in the consultation rather than ones with briefer introductions or with additional personal disclosure (P = 0.002). Preferences were similar in different subgroups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychiatrists should introduce themselves with information about what they intend to do in the consultation, but without personal disclosure.
authors.affiliation: Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, Newham Centre for Mental Health, London E13 8SP, UK. s.priebe@qmul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Priebe
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Palumbo
authors.forename: Sajjad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Strappelli
authors.forename: Jelena Jankovic
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gavrilovic
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bremner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology; D057240:Patient Preference; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011570:Psychiatry; D055815:Young Adult