Psychiatry-Mental Status Exam Flashcards
What are the components of the mental status exam?
“MAMMA RAGTOP JVC”: Motor, Appearance & attitude, Mood & affect, Memory, Attention, Read & write, Abstraction, General information, Thought & speech, Orientation, Perception, Judgement & insight, Visuospatial ability, Calculations.
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing motor activity?
Do they sit quietly or are they physically agitated?
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing appearance & attitude?
Dress, grooming, hygiene, facial expression, stated age and overall attitude.
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing mood & affect?
Mood: patient’s self report. Affect: perceived emotional state by others.
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing memory?
Very short term (immediate repetition of 3 pieces of information), short term (repeat 3 pieces of information in 5 minutes), and long term (what happened a few months ago).
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing attention?
Spelling words backwards or naming 5 things that start with a specific letter.
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing reading & writing?
Have the patient read you a paragraph. Have the patient write down a specific sentence.
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing abstraction?
Have the patient interpret a metaphor. “Don’t cry over spilled milk”
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing general information?
Ask the patient questions about history or geography.
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing thought and speech?
Speech tempo (pressured?), logic and content of thought (delusions?)
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing orientation?
Date, time, what the patient is doing in the doctor’s office.
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing perception?
Look for hallucinations and illusions.
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing judgment and insight?
What would the patient do if they were sitting at home and smelled smoke? Do you believe you are mentally ill?
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing visuospatial ability?
Have the patient draw a clock with the time you state.
What are you looking for during the mental status exam when you are assessing calculations?
Have the patient count back from 100 by 7’s or do any other math problem.
