Mental health history Flashcards
What to do if the patient is becoming distressed
Stop the history early
How to respond to distress
Empathic comments
What is a good comment
It must be difficult to feel like this
Aims of history with a manic patient
Keep them engaged, try and get a history
Risks of taking a history from a manic patient
May irritate them and cause violence
History of presenting complaint
What is the problem How long has it been like this What was happening when this started What make things worse or better? Choose what seems relevant at the time
Clarifying and closed questioning
Can I stop you there for a minute, i need to ask a few questions to be clear about what you are saying
Past psychiatric history
Have you ever had anything like this before
Did you ever seek help for this in the past
Have you ever been in hospital for this before
What treatments have you tried in the past
Family history
Has anyone else in the family had anything similar to this
Has anyone in the family had problems with their nerves
Are your parents alive? What did they do for a living? Whats your relationship with them like? has it always been like that?
Personal history
Birth Early development - walk, talk, socialise School - social, academic Home environment Qualifications Relationships and children Work
Learning disability definition
Less than 2 standard deviations before the norm
Past medical history
Medical conditions Admissions Surgical procedures Head injuries Deliberate self hard
Medication, drugs and alcohol
Current medication Allergies Illicit drug use -how much, what, how often, for how long Smoking, alcohol
What questions do you ask about social drinking
How often
How much
Who with
What time
Questions about drug use
When did you start, then what, injected, which veins, howre they funding
