Mental Status Exam
Mental Status Exam
Mental Status Exam
1. Appearance/Behavior: apparent age, attitude and Physical appearance: Gender, age (looks
older/younger than stated age), type of clothing,
cooperativeness, eye contact, posture, dress and
hygiene (including smelling of alcohol, urine, feces),
hygiene, psychomotor status posture, grooming, physical abnormalities, tattoos,
2. Speech: rate, rhythm, volume, tone, articulation body piercings. Take specific notice of the following,
3. Mood: patient’s subjective emotional state— which may be clues for possible diagnoses:
■■ Pupil size: Drug intoxication/withdrawal.
depressed, anxious, sad, angry, etc.
4. Affect: objective emotional expression— ■■ Bruises in hidden areas: ↑ suspicion for abuse.
euthymic, dysphoric, euphoric, appropriate (to ■■ Needle marks/tracks: Drug use.
Mood
Memory: Mood is the emotion that the patient tells you he feels,
1. Registration: immediate recall of three objects often in quotations.
2. Short term: recall of objects after 5 minutes
Affect
3. Long term: ask about verifiable personal Affect is an assessment of how the patient’s mood
information appears to the examiner, including the amount and
4. Fund of knowledge: current events range of emotional expression. It is described with
5. Abstract thought: interpretation of proverbs, the following dimensions:
■■ Type of affect: Euthymic, euphoric, neutral,
analogies dysphoric.
6. Insight: patient’s awareness of his/her illness and ■■ Quality/Range describes the depth and range of the