Mental Status Exam
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Appearance
Appearance
Behaviour
Sensorium (sensory apparatus)
Affect (expressed emotional responses)
Orientation
Thought content
Memory
Intelligence
Thought processes
Insight
Judgment
Panic
• Is the patient clean and well groomed
• Appear the stated age
1
Behaviour
2
Sensorium (sensory apparatus)
• Are there any peculiar aspects to the
patient’s behaviour, such as atypical speech
patterns (speed or cadence), odd
mannerisms or tics, strange posture or gait?
Panic
Panic
3
• Do the five senses appear to be intact ?
– Sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste
Panic
4
1
Affect (expressed emotional responses)
Orientation
• Has the patient expressed anger, anxiety, or
any other general state during the
interview?
• Has the patient’s affect been inappropriate
to the topic (for example, laughing or
smiling when sad things were being
discussed)?
Panic
5
Thought content
Panic
6
Memory
• Does the patient describe hearing or seeing
things whose existence is questionable?
• Does the patient seem to have delusions of
persecution, grandeur, or the like?
Panic
• Is the patient aware of who, where, the
time, date, and year?
• How intact is the patient’s memory for
long-past events and recent events?
• Short term memory – remember, tree, car,
mouse (mini mental status exam)
7
Panic
8
2
Intelligence
Thought processes
• How sophisticated is the patient’s
vocabulary?
• Is thought logical and coherent
• How well does the patient express thoughts
and ideas, use and understand abstractions
and metaphors?
• Is the patient able to express and
understand sophisticated concepts.
Panic
9
Insight
Panic
10
Judgment
• Is the patient aware of his or her situation,
and able to appreciate its severity and the
necessity for clinical assistance?
Panic
• Is there evidence of a loosening of
associations, apparently unconnected ideas
that are joined together
• Has the patient shown ability to make
sound and well-thought-out decisions, in
the past and presently ?
11
Panic
12
3