Components of Mental Status Exam

Question 1

How to test orientation?

Answer 1

What year is it? Where are we?

Question 2

ABC

Answer 2

Appearance, Behavior, Cooperation

Question 3

STAMPLICKER

Answer 3

Speech
Thought content
Affect
Mood
Perceptions
Level of Consciousness 
Insight
Cognitive functioning
Killer
Endings 
Reliability

Question 4

Catatonia

Answer 4

Marked behavioral disturbance; inability to move normally

• psycho: decreased engagement–either negativism or mutism
• motor: abnormal motor activity–catalepsy, stupor, agitation, mannerism, stereotypy

Question 5

Speech

Answer 5

Comprehension: have patient read and follow instructions

Speech proper: volume, articulation, process (linear)

Question 6

Speech disturbances

Answer 6

Circumstantial: Start off topic but ultimately get to point at hand
Tangential: never get back to main point
Derailment: flight of ideas (sentence makes sense, message does not) or word salad (sentence and message do not make sense)

Question 7

Thought content

Answer 7

Delusional thoughts, obsessions, preoccupations,

Question 8

Affect

Answer 8

5 Spheres:
Type (sad, happy)
Intensity (normal, blunted)
Range (area under the curve–normal or constricted)
Change in pattern (slope–too quick or slow getting to next point)
Appropriate (does it match mood)

Question 9

Perceptions

Answer 9

Illusions or hallucinations?

Question 10

Consciousness

Answer 10

Awake, alert, oriented

Question 11

Cognitive functioning

Answer 11

• vocab
• long term memory
• proverbs and similarities: abstract thinking
• comprehension: social judgement
• digit span: short term memory and attn
• arithmetic

Question 12

Testing memory

Answer 12

Part of cognitive functioning

• Unconscious procedural: write a sentence
• Short term memory: digit span
• Long term memory, semantic and episodic
• Immediate recall and recall after 5 minutes of 3 items (not in room, one must be abstract)

Question 13

Testing attention

Answer 13

Part of cognitive functioning

-Patient should recall a 7 digit number forwards

Question 14

Testing Concentration

Answer 14

Part of cognitive functioning

• Serial 7s
• Spell world

Question 15

Test intellectual functioning

Answer 15

Part of cognitive functioning

• Name 4 ppl who have been president…
• Why are light color clothes cooler in summer than dark…

Question 16

Testing comprehension

Answer 16

Part of cognitive functioning (comprehension)

• test abstract through via similarities and explain a proverb
• test formal judgement by asking what they would do if they saw fire in a grocery store