Mental state examination

Question 1

how to describe appearance and behaviour?

Answer 1

reduced facial expression 
brow is classically 'furrowed' 
reduced eye contact 
limited gesturing - movements may be slowed, or absent 
rapport is often difficult to establish

Question 2

speech

Answer 2

reduced rate of speech (speech is slow)
lowered in pitch
reduced in volume (speech is quiet)
reduced intonation (speech is monotonous)
increased speech latencies (longer time between end of a question and them starting to speak)
limited content (answers are often short, brief and unembellished)

Question 3

Mood

Answer 3

sustained state of the patient’s inner feelings. examples of various mood states:
low/depressed, anxious, angry/irritable, apathetic, elated

Question 4

affect

Answer 4

refers to an observable expression of a patient’s inner feelings and can be described as quality, range, intensity, fluctuations

Question 5

quality of affect:

Answer 5

sad/agitated/hostile

euphoric/animated

Question 6

range of affect

Answer 6

restricted, normal, expansive

Question 7

intensity of affect

Answer 7

normal, blunted, flat

Question 8

fluctuations in affect

Answer 8

labile - easily changed between states

Question 9

thought

Answer 9

can be further divided into form and content and possession