1. MENTAL STATUS EXAMINATIONBy
Alan Sabu Thomas
1 PG Clinical Psychology

2. Mental status Examination
Clinicians use the term mental status examination to refer to what the clients thinks about and how the client thinks and acts
Not present in a standardized form .
Areas covered
1.Behaviour
2.Orientation
3.Content of thought.
4.Thinking style
5.Language
6.Affect and mood
7.Perceptual experience
8.Sense of self
9.Motivation
10.Intelligence
11.Inight

3. APPEARANCE AND BEHAVIOUR
Movement of the person’s body
Level of activity
Hyperactivity
Compulsion –Repetitive and seemingly purposeful behavior that is performed in response to uncontrollable urges.

4. ORIENTATION It’s a person’s awareness to time ,place and identity .
People with mental disorders are disoriented.
They are out of touch with the basic facts about themselves and their surrounding

5. CONCENTRATION AND ATTENTION
Reading and writing –The patient is asked to read a sentence. He is also told to write a sentence in full and complete sentence.
Visuospatial ability – copying a figure exercise is done.
Abstract thought –Abstract thinking is the ability to deal with abstract concepts. Example similarities between truth and beauty. Answers could be overtly abstract or concrete. Brain damaged individual become extremely emotional and cannot think abstractly.

6. AFFECT AND MOOD(affect = outward expression of emotional feeling)
Feeling state becomes affect when others observe it.
Mood refers to the experience of emotion the way the person feels inside.
Assessment of mood important as it has got a lot of diagnostic and treatment significance
Euthymic mood
Dysphoric mood
Euphoric Mood

7. Interesting, right?
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