Psychiatry Flashcards
Things to consider when interviewing?
Reviewing the patient’s records noting previous symptomatology and episodes of previous violence
Factors increasing risk of this
Two doors for interview room, remove all potential weapons
Familiarise yourself with the ward’s panic alarm system
Break-away/ aggression management training courses
Use two or more comfortable chairs, same height, orientated at an angle, clipboard for notes
Interview structure?
Introduce, explain purpose of the interview, put the patient at ease
Look relaxed and interested, make good eye contact
Ask open Qs
Clarify terms you don’t understand/ are vague
Express empathy
Facilitate communication
Mirror the patient’s feelings
Use pauses appropriately
Summarise
Further Qs
Thank the patient
Objective details needed for an overdose?
What was taken?
Where and when?
Was anyone present?
Were any precautions taken to avoid discovery?
Suicide note?
Act of anticipation of death?
Action taken to alert possible helpers after taking the overdose?
Subjective (patient’s perception) of overdose?
Patient's stated intent Patient's estimate of lethality of the substances taken Evidence of recent/ psych illness, symptoms of depression/ psychosis Past hx of psych illness/ self-harm Drug/ alcohol abuse? Recent precipitating life event Family hx of mental illness Social support at home Protective factors Risk factors Harm to others Vulnerability to exploitation Self-neglect
Things to consider in a psychiatric assessment?
Intro, HPC+ clarifying and closed questioning, past psych hx, family hx, personal hx, past medical hx, medication, drugs and alcohol, forensic hx, MSE
Things to ask for past psych hx? Family hx? Personal hx?
Had anything like this before/ seeked help for this before/ been in hospital?
Anyone else in the family? Tell me more about your family
Birth, early development, school, home, qualifications, relationships
Past medical hx? Medication, drugs and alcohol? Forensic hx?
Chronic, cancer, COVID, admissions, surgical procedures, head injuries/ accidents, self-harm, side effects from meds
Current, allergies, illicit drug use, alcohol- how much and how often, how long, dependency, time start drinking, every day
Juvenile crime, court appearances, convictions, length of sentence, against person/ property, experience of prison
Elements of MSE?
1) Appearance and behaviour
2) Speech
3) Affect and mood
4) Thoughts and delusions
5) Perceptions and hallucinations
6) Cognition
7) Insight
Appearance features?
Distiguishing- scars, tattoos, signs of IV drug use Weight Stigmata of disease Personal hygiene Clothing Objects
Engagement
Eye contact
Facial expression
Body language- close/ withdrawn
Psychomotor activity- retardation= paucity of movement and delayed responses to Qs
Restlessness
Involuntary movements/ postures, tremors, tics, lip-smacking, akathisias, rocking
Assessing speech?
Rate- pressure, slow–> retardation= major depression
Quantity- minimal= depression
Excessive= mania and schizophrenia
Tone- monotonous= depression, schizophrenia and autism, tremulous= anxiety
Volume
Fluency and rhythm- stammering and stuttering, slurred- major depression
Assessing mood and affect?
Affect= immediately expressed and observed emotion Mood= subjective internal state at any one time
Mood= how feeling, current mood, been feeling low/ depressed lately?
Affect= apparent emotion, range and mobility: Fixed= remains same Restricted= not demonstrate normal range as expected Labile= exaggerated may/ may not relate to external triggers
Intensity- heightened= mania, blunted/ flat= schizophrenia, depression and PTSD
Incongruency= schizophrenia
Assessing thought?
Form= processing and organisation of thoughts
Speed
Flow and coherence
Abnormalities of thought flow and coherence?
Loose associations= moving rapidly from one topic to another with no apparent connection between topics
Circumstantial thoughts= irrelevant and unnecessary details
Tangential thoughts= unrelated thoughts
Flight of ideas= thoughts= so quick, one train of thought not completed before next–> mania
Perseveration= persistent and inappropriate repetition of same thought–> frontal lobe dysfunction
Abnormalities of thought content?
Delusions- firm, fixed belief based on inadequate grounds, not amenable to a rational argument/ evidence to the contrary
Obsessions= thoughts, images/ impulses out of person’s control, person knows they’re irrational
Compulsions- repetitive behaviours that the patient feels compelled to perform
Overvalued ideas= not delusional/ obsessional, preoccupying to the extent of dominating the sufferer’s life
Suicidal thoughts
Homicidal/ violent thoughts
Abnormalities of thought possession?
Thought insertion- belief that thoughts can be inserted into the patient’s mind
Thought withdrawal- removed from patient’s mind
Broadcasting- others can hear the patient’s thoughts (x3= Schneiderian first rank symptoms of schizophrenia)
Thought alienation- thoughts are no longer within their control by being removed/ replaced by an outside force/ agency
Thought blocking= mind becomes empty of thoughts–> paranoid schizophrenia
Pressure= rapid, abundant–> mania
Thought echo- hallucination of hearing aloud his/ her own thoughts short after–> psychosis
What are confabulations?
Gaps in person’s memory= unconsciously filled with fabricated misinterpreted/ distorted information
Somatic passivity- sensation imposed by an outside force
Catatonia- group of symptoms involving lack of movement and communication
Stupor= near-unconsciousness/ insensibility
What is delirium? What are persecutory delusions? Delusions of reference? Grandiose? Guilt/ worthlessness? Delusions of control?
Abrupt change–> mental confusion and emotional disruption e.g. during alcohol withdrawal, after surgery/ with dementia
People/ organisations trying to inflict harm
Objects/ events/ people= special significance
Exaggerated self-importance
Innocent error= in psychotic depression
Actions, impulses and thoughts= controlled by outside agency
Abnormalities of perception? Dissociative symptoms x2?
Hallucinations- sensory perception without external stimulation
Pseudo-hallucinations- aware not real
Illusions= misinterpret external stimulus
Depersonalisation- feels no longer their “true” self
Derealisation= sense world around them is not a true reality
2nd person auditory hallucinations? 3rd person? Command? Tactile?
Voices talk to patient–> affective psychosis and personality disorder
Talking about patient –> paranoid schizophrenia
Telling to do something
Sensations of being touched
What is cognition? Formal assessment?
The mental action/ process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and the senses
MMSE, AMTS, ACE-III
Qs for essential cognitive state exam?
Orientation: Day/ time is it? Remember what my job is? Do you know where you are? Registration: Name and address Attention: Spell WORLD backwards Memory: Recent-Recall 3 items/ name and address at 5 mins Remote- WWII dates General- Prime minister
Assessing insight into their illness?
What do you think the cause of the problem is?
Do you think you have a problem?
Do you feel you need help with your problem?
Willing to seek help, appreciates and accepts need for tx
Appreciates and accepts need for tx and risks with non-compliance, not engaging with follow-up, impact on others
What is concrete thinking? Functional hallucination? Reflex hallucination? Extracampine? Hypnagogic and hypnapompic?
Reasoning based on the see, hear and feel in the now
Triggered by a stimulus in the same modality
Stimulus in one sensory modality produces a sensory experience in another
the feeling of a silent, emotionally neutral human presence
When falling asleep/ waking up respectively
Delusion of infidelity? Secondary? Guilt? Nilhilistic? Poverty?
Partner is cheating Arises from another morbid experience They're bad/ evil Denies existence of body, mind, loved ones and world around them Convinced they are impoverished
What is dissociative amnesia? Anhedonia? Conversion and Belle indifference? Apathy?
Sudden that occurs during periods of extreme trauma and can last for hours/ days
Symptoms can’t be explained by neurological condition/ other medical condition
Absence of psychological indifference despite serious mental illness
Lack of motivation
Waxy flexibility? Echolalia? Echopraxia? Logoclonia? Negativism? Palilalia? Verbigeration?
Patient’s limbs when moved feel like wax or lead pipe, and remain in the position in which they’re left, found rarely in catatonic schizophrenia and structural brain disease
Automatic repetition of words heard
Automatic repetition by patient of movements made by examiner
Repetition of last syllable of a word
Motiveless resistance to movement
Repetition of word with increasing frequency
Repetition of one/ several sentences/ strings of fragmented words, often in a rather monotonous tone
Included in a case summary?
Synopsis: basic personal info, previous psych diagnosis, description of presentation, current symptoms, positive features on MSE, suicide risk, attitude to illness
DDx: 2-3, less likely to exclude
Formulation- 3 Ps= predisposing, precipitating and perpetuating
Investigations, initial drug tx, instructions–> nursing staff, and potential risks, detainable under MHA?
Screening Qs for psychosis?
Have you been having any strange experiences recently?
Have you been hearing voices? What are they like?
Do you ever seem to see other things other people cannot?
Do you ever think thoughts are being taken out of your mind/ being put into your mind/ not private?
Does it ever seem to be repeated?
Have you ever felt like you are being made to do things by someone else?
Do you feel in danger?
MMSE?
Ask the date? Season? Name of this place?
Name 3 objects, ask to repeat
Count backwards from 100 in 7s / spell WORLD backwards
Recall 3 words from earlier
Name a wrist-watch, then pencil
Repeat the sentence after you
Give the patient a piece of plain blank paper and repeat the command
Write ‘close your eyes’- ask to read and do
Ask to write sentence themselves= a subject and verb, correct punc and gram not needed
Copy intersecting pentagons
E.g. of organic disorders? Other neuroses? Affective disorders? Psychoses?
Delirium, dementia, lobe syndrome, endocrine causes
OCD, phobias, panic disorders, PTSD
Depression, bipolar, cyclothymia
Schizophrenia, delusional disorder, schizotypal disorder, depressive psychosis, manic psychosis, organic psychosis
Meaning of organic illness?
Refers to those conditions with demonstrable aetiology in the CNS
DDx for dementia? Common causes?
Delirium or depression should be excluded
Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, Lewy body, fronto-temporal dementia
Features of dementia?
Memory impairment- start with short-term and progresses to long-term
Hx of personality change, forgetfullness, social withdrawal, lability of affect, disinhibition, less self-care, apathy
Hallucinations and delusions often paranoid
Anxiety and/ or depression in 50%
Neurological
Catastrophic reaction
Pathological emotion
Sundowner syndrome- confusion increases with evening
Tx for dementia?
Diagnostic, functional and social
AChesterase inhibitors, antioxidants, hormonal
Antipsychotics
SSRIs; hypnotics
Psychological support
Maximise mobility, independence with self-care
Social management
Presentation of fronto-temporal dementia? Posterior-parietal? Cortical-subcortical dementias? Multifocal?
Personality change- common of early-onset dementia, language impairments
Early memory loss and focal cognitive deficits, personality changes= later manifestations, issues with word-finding
Cortical and subcortical symptoms
Rapid onset and course; cerebellum and subcortical structures
Based on what Mental Health Act? One doctor has to be what? Who is responsible for liaising with the individual and relatives?
1983
Section 12 approved
Approved Mental Health Professional- usually AMH
Aims of MHA?
Respect for patients’ past and present wishes and feelings, diversity, minimising restrictions on liberty, involvement of patients in care/tx, avoidance of unlawful discrimination, effectiveness of tx, views of carers and other interested parties, patient wellbeing and public safety
Length of section 2? Tx can be given without what? People involved? Evidence needed?
28 days
Patients’ consent
One S12 approved, AMHP
1)Patient is suffering from a mental disorder/ nature or degree that warrants detention in hospital for assessment- don’t need a diagnosis; and
2) Patient ought to be detained for his/ her own health of safety/ protection of others
Length of section 3? Purpose? People involved? Evidence needed?
6 month
Treatment
2 doctors, 1 AMHP
a) Patient is suffering from mental disorder of a nature/ degree which makes it appropriate for patient to receive medical tx in a hospital; and
b) Tx is in interests of his/ her health and safety of others; and
c) Appropriate tx must be available for the patient
Duration of section 4? Used when? People required? Evidence required?
72 hours
In urgent necessity- when waiting for second doctor would lead to “undesirable delay”
1 doctor and 1 AMHP
a) Patient is suffering from a mental disorder of a nature/ degree that warrants detention in hospital for assessment
b) Patient ought to be detained for his/ her own health/ protection of others
c) Not enough time for 2nd doctor to attend
What is a section 5(4) for? How long? Cannot be what?
For a patient admitted- psychiatric/ general hospital- wanting to leave
Nurses’ holding power until doctor can attend
6 hours
Treated coercively whilst under section
What is section 5(2) for? Duration? Allows time for what? Cannot be what?
Patient already admitted but wanting to leave
Doctors’ holding power- 72 hours
For Section 2 or 3 assessment
Coercively treated
Section 135 and 136 are what? S136 is for who? S135 needs what? Where issued? Need a what?
Police sections
Person suspected of having mental disorder in a public place
Needs court order to access patient’s home and remove them to:
Place of safety (local psychiatric unit/ police cell)
Section 2 or 3
Core symptoms of depression? Other? Mild depression? Moderate?
Low mood, anergia, anhedonia
Change in sleep, appetite, libido, diurnal mood variation, agitation, loss of confidence, loss of concentration, guilt, hopelessness, suicidal ideation
Core+2-3 others
Core+ 4 others+ functioning affected
Severe depression without psychotic? With psychotic symptoms?
Several, suicidal, marked loss of functioning
Mood congruent- nihilistic and guilty delusions, derogatory voices
Can be POST-NATAL, part of recurrent depressive illness, part of BIPOLAR illness
Bipolar I? Bipolar II? Symptoms of hypomania (4+ days)? Mania (>1 week)?
Depression+ hypomania/ mania
Mania+ depression
More episodes of depression, only mild hypomania EASY TO MISS
Rapid cycling- episodes= few hours/ days
Cyclothymia
Symptoms of hypomania (4+ days)? Mania (>1 week)?
Elevated mood- can euphoric/ dysphoric/ angry
Increased energy, talkativeness, poor concentration, mild reckless behaviour, sociability/ overfamiliarity, increased libido/ sexual disinhibition, increased confidence, decreased need sleep, change in appetite
Extreme elation- uncontrollable, overactivity, pressure of speech, impaired judgement, extreme risk taking behaviour, social disinhibition, inflated self-esteem, grandiosity, psychotic symptoms, mood congruent/ incongruent
Typical onset schizophrenia? Increased risk of what? Involves?
2nd- 3rd decade, increased suicide risk, death from CVD, respiratory disease, infection
Die 25 years earlier than general population
Splitting of thoughts/ loss of contract with reality
Affects- thoughts, perceptions, mood, personality, speech, volition, sense of self
First rank symptoms of schizophrenia (>1)? Secondary symptoms (2+)?
Thought alienation, passivity phenomena, 3rd person auditory hallucinations, delusional perception
Delusions, 2nd person auditory hallucinations, in any other modality, thought disorder, catatonic behaviour, negative symptoms
Positive symptoms (any change in behaviour/ thoughts) of schizophrenia? Negative (disinterest from world) symptoms?
Hallucinations, delusions, passivity phenomena, thought alienation, lack of insight, disturbance in mood
Blunting of affect, amotivation, poverty of speech, poverty of thought, poor non-verbal communication, clear deterioration in functioning, self-neglect, lack of insight
Symptoms of generalised anxiety?
Excessive across different situations >6 months Tiredness Poor concentration Irritability Muscle tension Disturbed sleep
Physical and psychological symptoms of panic disorder?
Palpitations, chest pain, choking, tachypnoea, dry mouth, urgency of micturition, dizziness, blurred visions, paraesthesiae
Feeling of impending doom, of dying, of losing control, depersonalisation, derealisation
Obsessive thoughts and compulsive acts in OCD?
Often unpleasant, repetitive, intrusive, irrational, recognised as patient’s own thoughts
Checking, washing, counting, symmetry, repeating certain words/ phrases
What are personality disorders? Manifests as problems in what?
Enduring, persistent and pervasive disorders of inner experience and behaviour that cause distress/ significant impairment in social functioning
Cognition, affect and behaviour
Paranoid personality description? Schizoid? Schizotypal?
Suspicious, distrust of others
Emotionally cold, detachment, lack of interest in others
Interpersonal discomfort with peculiar ideas, perceptions, appearance and behaviour
Dissocial/ antisocial personality? Emotionally unstable- impulsive and borderline type? Histrionic?
Callous lack of concern for others, irresponsibility, aggression
Inability to control anger or plan
Unclear identity, intense and unstable relationships
Self-dramatization, shallow affect, craving attention+ excitement
Narcissistic personality? Anxious/ avoidant?
Grandiosity, lack of empathy, need for admiration
Tension, self-conscious
Anankastic/ obsessive-compulsive personality? Dependent personality?
Doubt, indecisiveness, caution, rigidty, perfectionism
Clinging, submissive, excess need for care, feels helpless not in a relationship