Mental status examination Flashcards
neuro psych
what are unique characteristics of “the psychiatric patient “?
- The difficult patient
- Collateral data
- Establishing rapport/ empathy
- Safety considerations
What are key points/ identifying data when introducing oneself with a psychiatric patient ?
- Introduce yourself
- Put the patient at ease
- Establish rapport
- Active listening
- Demonstrate empathy
- Name and age
what are key principles in interpreting the chief complaint of a psychiatric patient ?
- Put it in the patients own words
- “what brings you in today?”
- May not be the focus of treatment (the lights are flickering)
- Use open ended questions
- Observe the patient
what are key principles in interpreting the history of present illness of a psychiatric patient ?
- Elaboration of CC
2.Start open ended and end more focused - Why now?
- Current symptoms: onset, duration, chronology, precipitants, alleviators, treatments?
- Recent stressors
- More focused questioning to narrow diagnosis
- Positives and negatives
- Enoagsus on functional impairment from symptoms
What are the “4 food groups” of psychiatric disorders?
- Mood disorders
- Anxiety disorders
- Psychotic disorders
- Substance use disorders
How do you screen for mood disorders (depression)?
1.Screening for depression (intuitive)
a. Mood, appetite, energy, concentration, sleep,
self-worth, interest/motivation, suicidal ideations
How do you screen for mood disorders (mania)?
- Screening for mania-
a. Increased energy, decreased NEED for sleep,
irritability, increased activities, hedonism, racing
thoughts and speech
what is the difference between physiologic and psychological?
- Physiologic: Processes or functions of the body
ex: Panic attacks, hyper-arousal, fight or flight - Psychological: Mental and emotional processes, thoughts and behaviors.
ex: excess worry, fear, apprehension, GAD, OCD
what should you screen for in anxiety disorders?
Both physiological and psychological manifestations
Anxiety disorders are usually a combination of what symptoms?
psychological and physiological
ex: panic disorder, social phobia
How do you screen for psychotic disorders?
- Screen for perceptual abnormalities
ex: delusions, hallucinations - Screen for disordered thought processes
a.mainly through mental status examination/observation
Within perceptual abnormalities in psychotic disorders what does delusion mean?
fixed false beliefs not culturally sanctioned
ex: persecution, ideas of reference, jealousy, grandiosity, hyper-religiosity, somatic (thinking something wrong with the body)
Within perceptual abnormalities in psychotic disorders what does hallucinations mean?
Hearing, seeing,feeling, tasting and smelling things in the absence of them
ex: auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory (taste)
How should you asses for substance abuse disorders?
Must rule out substance use disorders first
1. assess for current use early in interview, historical use later
2. How much how often last used
What are major safety concerns in psychiatric patients ?
- Suicidal ideation
- Homicidal ideation
- command hallucinations (violence)
- Self injurious behaviors
- inability to care for self
- reckless impulsivity: promiscuity, dangerous use of substances