Question

Presentation: Write on Mental Status (Normal and Abnormal) with supporting images and references.

Answer 1

The mental status examination is a structured assessment of the patient's behavioral and cognitive functioning. It includes descriptions of the patient's appearance and general behavior, level of consciousness and attentiveness, motor and speech activity, mood and affect, thought and perception, attitude and insight, the reaction evoked in the examiner, and, finally, higher cognitive abilities. The specific cognitive functions of alertness, language, memory, constructional ability, and abstract reasoning are the most clinically relevant.

• level of consciousness.The level of consciousness refers to the state of wakefulness of the patient and depends both on brainstem and cortical components.
• appearance and general behaviuor. These variables give the examiner an overall impression of the patient. The patient's physical appearance (apparent vs. stated age), grooming (immaculate/unkempt), dress (subdued/riotous), posture (erect/kyphotic), and eye contact (direct/furtive) are all pertinent observations
• speech and motor activity;Listening to spontaneous speech as the patient relates answers to open-ended questions yields much useful information,Overall motor activity should also be noted, including any tics or unusual mannerisms.
• affect and mood; affect is the patient's immediate expression of emotion; mood refers to the more sustained emotional makeup of the patient's personality, Both affect and mood can be described as dysphoric (depression, anxiety, guilt), euthymic (normal), or euphoric (implying a pathologically elevated sense of well-being).
• thought and perception
• attitude and insight, attnetion langauge memory