StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Components of a Mental Status Examination - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This essay "Components of a Mental Status Examination" focuses on the mental status examination (MSE) is a basic tool used by psychiatrists to help them determine the current mental state of a patient. The results of the MSE are combined with the biographical information about the patient…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.3% of users find it useful
Components of a Mental Status Examination
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Components of a Mental Status Examination"

Mental Status Exam (Culture) 25 November Components of a Mental Status Examination The mental status examination(MSE) is a basic tool used by psychiatrists to help them determine the current mental state of a patient. The results of the MSE are then combined with the biographical and historical information about the patient to form a broader picture that can help the clinician make an accurate diagnosis, and make a psychiatric formulation and a treatment plan. The key approach of an MSE is seeing the world from a patient's perspective known as descriptive psychopathology which is opposed to the earlier method of the psychoanalytic or interpretive approach made by the psychiatrist.

The MSE is a systematic collection of data gathered from a patient while the patient is in full view of the psychiatrist in order to detect signs and symptoms of a mental disorder. It is structured like an interview or an informal inquiry to put the patient at ease in order to be able to obtain good answers to both closed and open-ended questions. It can be supplemented with a structured written test to further test the patient's mental capacity and cognition. All the data that can be gathered will be recorded under specific headings known as standard domains.

In psychiatry, domains are the specific classifications of a mental state characterized by the following factors which clinicians use to analyze a mental patient: appearance, attitude, mood & affect, thought process, thought content, perception, cognition, insight, and judgment. All these domains are observed in the patient to fully determine the mental status. The other domains include behavior or activity, speech, and language (Gehlert & Browne, 2006, p. 215). The MSE tries to elicit a patient's perspective and also incorporates the observations made by the clinician.

Domains indicate a specific mental function (Frankel & Myatt, 2003, p. 28). Cultural Issues Related to MSEAwareness of a mental patient's cultural background can help to establish rapport and trust right at the outset of the interview process. This is because cultural factors can influence the outcome and results of the data-gathering exercise so it is important clinicians know about a patient's specific culture. For example, some cultures can emphasize the avoidance of any eye contact for prolonged periods of time which may be misinterpreted by the psychiatrist if he is not aware of a patient's cultural background (Hersen & Turner, 2003, p. 22). A patient's culture may also consider avoiding eye contact as a sign of deference to a higher authority and so people got accustomed to not looking a person straight in the eye which in the American or Western culture could mean at best just shyness or at worst a sign of a mental disorder.

There are many other instances where culture can considerably affect the outcomes of an MSE such as some people's beliefs in the supernatural or just being plainly superstitious. In psychiatry, any outward voicing of such belief may be interpreted as delusion or hallucination when in fact, the patient's culture allows these curious beliefs as being normal or ordinary. In the people of Haiti, belief in voodoo is combined with Catholicism in the same way they also combine folk medical beliefs with their more modern medical practices.

Other cultural issues that can possibly affect the MSE outcome is the amount of space physically between the patient and the clinician during the interview (personal space between two persons), body contact such as touching the knees of a patient, speaking in a loud or very animated tone and the use of expressive hand gestures (Colin & Paperwalla, 1996, p. 140). In some instances, it may be necessary to adjust or amend the MSE standard exam a bit to really help people with different cultural backgrounds.

Individualization of the MSE can be useful in situations where it might be necessary to ask embarrassing questions which a patient may try not to answer if his culture is not as frank as the American culture (Carlat, 2005, p. 22).

Read More
Tags
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“MENTAL STATUS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
MENTAL STATUS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1573356-mental-status
(MENTAL STATUS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
MENTAL STATUS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1573356-mental-status.
“MENTAL STATUS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1573356-mental-status.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Components of a Mental Status Examination

Researching Academic and Examination Stress in Secondary School Students

The great expectation of parents for their children to achieve good mars in their examination is among the leading sources of stress among school children.... This essay talks that in academic realms, stress may prove to be a negative predictor of academic performance.... ... ... ...
13 Pages (3250 words) Essay

Diagnosis Made Easier Chapters Critique

This notion postulates that a mental health clinician must be prepared to acknowledge the comprehensiveness of the task ahead which demands a thorough understanding of each of these phases.... The foremost objectives of chapter 1, thus, include: providing an explanation of the foundations of diagnosis, introducing the reader to the levels of diagnosis which are expounded upon later in the succeeding chapters of the book, and establishing the basics of diagnosis to equip the audience with an awareness and background information to assist the comprehension of the remaining components of the book....
18 Pages (4500 words) Essay

Altered Mental Status

Altered mental status can be perceived as a mental health problem in which the patient demonstrates mental disorders such as “impaired cognition, diminished attention and reduced awareness” and, besides, his or her level of consciousness may keep altering (Kanich et al,.... ... ...
2 Pages (500 words) Assignment

Socio-Behavioral Factors and Early Childhood Caries

12)Dental examination deals with an analysis of the situation of the teeth in order to identify any potential anomalies that may require to be corrected.... 11)The sample frame refers to all the components present in a sampling area from where the sample will be obtained from.... The sample frame can be made up of a variety of components, all of which helps in getting the data required by a researcher....
9 Pages (2250 words) Assignment

Psychological Testing and Assessment and the DSM

In psychological testing and assessment, case history data refers to records of a test taker's past life with particular reference to behaviors that could raise psychological alarms.... Concisely, case history data is a collection of biographical and similar data about a test.... ... ... r that may source from interviews with the given test taker or other significant persons in the life of the one taking test (Cohen, Sturman & Swerdlik, 2013)....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Understanding Care Management of Social Work in Community Mental

"Understanding Care Management of Social Work in Community mental" paper focuses on mental care management which requires the working together of various practitioners so that they can provide the best patient-centered care.... The clinician identifies both the past and the current interventions used for the identified mental problems.... Typically, the management entails designing, evaluating, and implementing the needed interventions to handle both acute and chronic mental health conditions....
12 Pages (3000 words) Report

Student's Health Impact Assessment

The paper "Student's Health Impact Assessment" helps in employing the cognitive and constructivism theories in acquiring significant techniques in carrying out research, taking of patient's history, running of physical examinations to patients, as well as, understanding different family structures....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Paper

A Comprehensive Nursing Assessment for Renal Hemodialysis

These methods have to establish history and carry out a physical examination of the patient.... herefore, such individuals require examination and a fast diagnosis of their conditions.... Nursing assessment is the collecting of information about a patient's physiological, mental, and sociological status.... Nursing assessment is the collecting of information about a patient's physiological, mental, and sociological status.... Nursing assessment is the collecting of information about a patient's physiological, mental, and sociological status....
6 Pages (1500 words) Term Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us