1. Length of the interview
As a diagnostic tool, the SCIP interview takes the same amount of time as a typical psychiatric diagnostic interview (30-45 minutes for a new intake), allows clinicians to maintain therapeutic rapport with patients and does not require training.
2. Reliable and validated SCIP scales
The SCIP is the only diagnostic tool that has 18 inherent rating scales for the following domains: generalized anxiety, obsessions, compulsions, posttraumatic stress, depression, mania, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thoughts, aggression, negative symptoms, alcohol use, drug use, attention deficit, hyperactivity, anorexia, binge-eating, and bulimia. Each of the SCIP rating scales takes no more 2-5 minutes to complete by the clinician. The SCIP is the only diagnostic interview designed for psychiatrists to use in real clinical settings. The SCIP was designed to be a measurement-based care (MBC) tool and is compatible with electronic health records (EHR). The SCIP rating scales meet the criteria for MBC because they are efficient, reliable, valid, reflect how clinicians assess psychiatric disorders, and relevant to decision-making.
3. Flexibility
The SCIP is flexible and allows clinicians the freedom to administer the interview as they see fit. The SCIP interview starts with the Screening Section followed by the Modular Section. The SCIP Screening Section has questions on anxiety, mood, psychosis, alcohol and substance, somatoform, eating, attention and hyperactivity symptoms. The clinician can start with any question that he/she finds most appropriate. The clinician decides on the episode or period to evaluate. After the Screening Section, the clinician chooses the module(s) to make the appropriate diagnosis (es). If the clinician decides to explore two or more modules, he/she can start with any module as deemed appropriate. No other structured or semi-structured interview currently available allows such freedom for the clinician, simply because the SCIP utilizes the full extent of clinicians’ expertise in conducting diagnostic interviews. No structured or semi-structured interview can ever replace the clinicians’ skills.
4. Three Types of Output
The SCIP is the only instrument designed to produce three types of output: numeric data for symptoms/signs and their severity, dimensional scores for 18 clusters of symptoms (generalized anxiety, obsessions, compulsions, posttraumatic stress, depression, mania, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thoughts, aggression, negative symptoms, alcohol use, drug use, attention deficit, hyperactivity, anorexia, binge-eating, and bulimia), and disorder categories according to the to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) and International Classification of Disease (ICD) criteria.
5. Beyond DSM-5 and ICD-10
The building blocks of the SCIP are the symptoms and signs of psychopathology that do not change with time. Whether we have the ICD-10 or beyond, DSM-5 or beyond, the phenomenology of mental disorders remains unchanged and the SCIP will withstand future diagnostic criteria changes. For example, although the SCIP was developed and tested before the DSM-5 publication in 2013, the SCIP contains the main criteria needed to make the diagnosis of the new DSM-5 disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (irritable mood, verbal and physical aggression, manic and hypomanic episodes). The clinician inquires about the frequency, duration and onset of temper outbursts and decides whether or not the patient meets the criteria for the diagnosis of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder.
6. Dual function (clinical management and research)
The SCIP is the only instrument that transforms routine clinical information into data that can be used for research. Psychiatrists evaluate thousands of patients daily. The multitudes of records produced, such as psychiatric evaluations and progress notes, have mainly one use: clinical management. The SCIP retains the clinical management function and also produces data that can be used for research. If all psychiatric interviews were transformed into research data, the potential value for scientific inquiry would be significant.