The psychiatric examination of a psychiatric patient is also known as the doctor-patient interview, interview examination, or intake interview, and here we use the interview examination uniformly. Unlike other clinical disciplines, the psychiatrist meets with the patient not only to gather information to clarify the diagnosis, but also to initiate treatment. Broadly speaking, the purpose of the interview includes: (1) obtaining the necessary information to establish a diagnosis; (2) getting to know the patient from a complete human perspective; (3) understanding the patient’s environment; (4) forming a good doctor-patient treatment relationship; and (5) providing initial mental health education to the patient so that the patient understands his or her condition.