Psychiatric Assessment Flashcards
What are the elements of the mental state examination?
Appearance and behaviour
Speech
Mood
Thoughts
Perceptions
Cognition
Insight
Overfamiliarity may be a sign of what mental states?
Mania, disinhibitive state
What are the elements of speech?
Rate, rhythm, volume, tone, emotional reactivity,
How does one describe tangentiality
Patient “goes off on a tangent” immediately speaking about something other than what they are supposed to
How might one describe derailment?
Patient slowly losing train of what they were saying and going into another subject
How might one describe flight of ideas?
Rapidly shifting speech, jumping to unrelated ideas
Seen in mania
How might one describe thought block?
When someone loses what they were going to say
How might one describe clanging?
Similar to echolalia, words being said dictates words coming next (like rhyming)
What is formal thought disorder?
Dysfunction of how thought is formed
What are the elements of mood?
Subjective
Objective
Biological/somatic aspects (weight, appetite, sleep)
Self harm thoughts
What is a delusion?
Unshakeable belief outside sociocultural norms
How does an overvalued idea differ from delusion?
May not be so unshakeable
May not be outside sociocultural norms
What is insight?
Understanding they have a disorder
Understanding the cause of their disorder
Understanding the need for treatment and willingness to comply
Why mighta psychiatrist do a physical examination?
If they think there might be some physical symptoms or physical basis to their psychiatric presentation
Who else might history be taken from?
Notes, GO, family, friends, social services, police
