Mental Status Flashcards
Define mental status
A persons emotional and cognitive function
Define mental health
The ability to cope with stressors and participate in work and community life in a productive fulfilling way
Define mental disorder
A greater than expected response to a life event, which manifests in significant distress or impaired functioning
What are organic disorders
These have a specific known cause like alcohol and drug intoxication, high fever
What are psychiatric disorders
Those for which an organic cause has not yet been established
What are the 4 main categories to evaluate for mental health status
Appearance
Behaviour
Cognition
Thought process
What orientation is usually lost first
Time then to place, but rarely to person
Red flags for suicide
Prior attempts
History of depression, hopelessness, family history of suicide
Possession of firearms
Talk about suicide
Gives away prized possession
How do you screen for suicidal thoughts
ASQ (ask suicide screening questions)
What is the ASQ
It can be administered in 20 seconds and consists of 4 questions:
In the past few weeks, have you wished you were dead?
In the past few weeks, have you felt that you or your family would be better off if you were dead?
In the past few weeks, have you been having thoughts about killing yourself?
Have you ever tried to kill yourself?
What is a positive screen for the ASQ?
If the person answers yes to any of the questions, or refuses to answer any question, consider it a positive screen. Anyone who has a positive screen should be asked “are you have any thoughts of killing yourself right now?”
What is the Glasgow coma scale?
A quantitative tool with scores ranging from 3-15 to describe LOC
What are the 3 responses the Glasgow scale measures?
Eye opening response
Motor response
Verbal response
What is lethargic
Drift off to sleep, but can be awakened when name called. May still appear sleepy
What is obtunded
Sleeps most of the time, can be awakened with shout or with shaking. Speech may be mumbled and incoherent
What is stuporous
Unconscious, only awakens to persistent and vigorous shaking or pain
Withdraws from painful stimulus, can moan or mumble. Reflexes persist.
What is comatose
Unconscious with no response to pain. Light coma may allow some reflex responses but in deep, they disappear. A score of seven or less on the objective Glasgow coma scale indicates coma.
Define global aphasia
Most common and more severe, the person has severely limited speech and comprehension of both written and verbal speech.
Caused by large lesion that affects both language areas of the brain
What is Broca aphasia
The person can understand verbal and written language, but cannot effectively express themselves using language. Speech is non fluent and effortful
Caused by lesion to the brain in motor speech cortex known as Broca area
What is wernicke aphasia
The person is able to speak fluently. However, the speech makes no sense, with many word substitutions, or made up words. Reading and writing is also impaired.
Caused by lesion to the brain in the auditory cortex or wernickes area
