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Within clinical psychology, the clinical method is an approach to understanding and treating mental disorders that begins with a particular individual's personal history and is designed around that individual's psychological needs. It is sometimes posed as an alternative approach to the experimental method which focuses on the importance of conducting experiments in learning how to treat mental disorders, and the differential method which sorts patients by class (gender, race, income, age, etc.) and designs treatment plans based around broad social categories.

Personal History
Taking personal history along with clinical examination allow the health practitioners to fully establish a clinical diagnosis. These methods require a logical, organized and structured approach in order to obtain all important information. A medical history of a patient provides insights into diagnostic possibilities as well as the patient's experiences with illnesses. The patients will be asked about current illness and the history of it, past medical history and family history, drugs and allergies. Past medical history helps with making the correct diagnosis and establishing the most suitable treatment for the patients.

Current Illness
The questions are evaluated in details:
 * When was the start date/time?
 * Who noticed the problem and was the patient aware of it?
 * What was the initial action taken by the patient? Was it helpful?
 * Did the patient seek any medical help?
 * What treatment has been given?
 * Etc.

Drugs Use
Current usage of drugs and medication could be the cause of the patient's recent complaints. Before prescript new medication, obtaining a drug history would help determining if there's a need to establish a new drug therapy, as well as adjusting the current usage of inappropriate medications. New generation drugs such as antipsychotics are more effective and safe for the patient, but the long-terms effects are unknown.

Allergies
Allergies and side effects of a drug can be looked at the same way, however, side effect are not expected from the medication usage, while allergy means there's an adverse reaction of the body in response to a foreign substance.

Family History
A family history of psychological problems such as mental disorders contribute to cognitive impairment and higher risk of psychiatric disorder. There are evidence from epidemiology supporting that genetics factors can contribute to a wide range of psychiatric disorders.

Social History

 * Occupation
 * Living Accommodation
 * Marital status with children
 * Travel History

Mental Disorders
These clinical methods lead to the diagnosis of mental disorders such as mood disorders, schizophrenia and anxiety disorder.

Self-Report Methods
Self-Report Methods are questionnaires, interviews and rating scales designed to directly ask the patients for information. These methods allow the patient to give their own perspective.

Clinical Examination
Clinical examination of an individual allows personalized diagnosis and treatment.
 * Cardiovascular system
 * Respiratory system
 * Gastrointestinal system
 * Neurological system
 * Genitourinary system
 * Skeletal system
 * Ear, Nose and Throat