Mental State Exam Flashcards
What are the components of the MSE?
ASEPTIC A - appearance and behaviour S - Speech E - Emotion (Mood) P - Perception T - Thoughts I - Insight C - Cognition
What are delusions?
Fixed, false beliefs, which are firmly held despite evidence to the contrary and go against the individual’s normal social and cultural belief system
What are obsessional thoughts?
Distressing thoughts that enter the mind despite the patient’s effort to resist them. This is a feature of OCD
What is a gradiose delusion?
A fixed, false belief that someone has special powers, is talented, wealthy or important. Grandiose delusions may be religious in nature e.g. one is chosen by God
What is a persecutory delusion?
A fixed, false belief that other people are conspiring against them in order to inflict harm or destroy their reputation
What is a reference delusion?
A fixed, false belief that random events, objects or the behaviour of others, have a special significance to oneself
What is a guilt delusion?
A fixed, false belief that one has done something harmful or shameful
What is a hypochondriacal delusion?
A fixed, false belief that one has a medical illness, despite sound medical evidence to the contrary
What is De Clerambault’s Syndrome?
Erotomania - a fixed, false belief that an exalted person is in love with them. A form of paranoid delusion that is amorous in nature - usually seen in women
What is Othello syndrome?
Morbid jealousy - a fixed, false belief that that the patient’s spouse or sexual partner is being unfaithful without having an actual proof to support their claim
What is Capgras’ syndrome?
A fixed, false belief that a familiar person or place has been replaced with an exact duplicate - a delusion of misidentification?
What is a nihilistic delusion?
Includes Cotard’s syndrome. A fixed, false belief that they are worthless or dying. In severe cases they claim that everything in non-existent including themselves
What is a folie a deux?
A syndrome in which a delusional belief is shared between two people. Often the two people are from the same family
What is a delusional memory (rare primary delusion)?
Where a delusional belief is based upon the recall of memory or false memory for a past experience e.g. a man recalls seeing a woman giggling at him in a restaurant a few weeks ago and now realises they knew he was infested by small organisms
What is loosening of association? (Thought form)
Loss of normal structure of thinking. Occurs mainly in schizophrenia. 3 types
1) Derailment of thought: discourse consisting of a sequence of unrelated or only remotely related ideas
2) Tangential thinking: the person diverts from the original train of thought but never returns to it.
3) Word salad: refers to speech that is reduced to a senseless repetition of sounds and phrases
