Mental State Examination Flashcards
1
Q
What areas are you looking at in the MSE?
A
- Appearance and behaviour
- Speech
- Mood and affect
- Thoughts
- Perception
- Cognition
- Insight
2
Q
What areas do not ned to be question, only observed?
A
- Appearance and behaviour
- Speech
- Affect
3
Q
What do you look at in appearance?
A
Appearance
- Clothing : unkempt, appropriate for weather
- Hygiene: self neglect, raw hands (OCD)
- Distinctive feature: self harm scars. needle marks
4
Q
What do you look at in behaviour?
A
- Gait & Posture: tics, tremors, involuntary movements
- Psychomotor activity: hyperactivity (mania), hypoactivity (depression), facial expressions, body language, gestures
- Level of engagement/ arousal: Agitated, calm abrupt
5
Q
What is speech observation focused on?
A
The production of speech rather than content
6
Q
What is observed in speech?
A
- Rate of speech: rapid, pressured (mania)
- Rhyming/ Punning
- Tone: Monotonous (depression)
- Volume
7
Q
What does mood refer to?
A
A subjective emotion relayed by the patient, describing a period of time
8
Q
What does affect refer to?
A
This is an observation
Immediately expressed an observed emotion - objective
9
Q
What do you question about for mood?
A
- Nature of mood: High, depressed, anxious, low
- Variability of mood: Is it continuous/ does it change
- Severity of mood: is this normal/ abnormal?
10
Q
Mood question examples
A
How are you feeling?
What is your current mood?
Lack of sleep?
Lack of appetite?
11
Q
What do you look at for affect?
A
- How would you describe the patients emotional state? elated, low , withdrawn
- How do they convey emotion? reactive, unreactive, consistently flat mood, changing emotion
- Is your observation congruent with how they describe their mood? mismatch?
12
Q
What can Thoughts be divided into?
A
- Thought content - exploring
- Thought process
