The mental status examination.

R Bell; R C Hall

Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 920569

The mental status examination.

R Bell·R C Hall

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The mental status examination evaluates appearance and behavior, attitude, perception, orientation, judgment, cognition, abstraction and insight. It can be administered quickly and repetitively. This examination provides information to distinguish organic from "functional" illnesses and also provides objective data regarding the patient's improving or deteriorating sensorium. It helps substantiate clinical decisions on competance, potential for danger and hospitalization.

Explore related subjects

Affective Symptoms Diagnosis, Differential Humans Intellectual Disability Mental Disorders Mental Status Schedule Neurocognitive Disorders Neurotic Disorders Personality Disorders Psychiatric Status Rating Scales Psychotic Disorders Journal Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

R Bell, R C Hall. 1977. The mental status examination.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/920569/

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2007

A real reason for patients with pseudobulbar affect to smile.

Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is a dramatic disorder of emotional expression and regulation characterized by uncontrollable episodes of laughing and crying that often cause embarrassment, curtailment of social activities, and reduction in quality of life. The disorder occurs in patients with brain injury caused by many types of neurological disease, including stroke, tumors, and neurodegenerative gray and white matter disorders. Although the pathophysiology is unknown, PBA may relate to release of brainstem emotional control centers from regulation by the frontal lobes. Diagnosis of PBA can be difficult and relies on careful characterization of episodes and differentiation from depression. Although there are no US Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for PBA, several agents have been shown to be effective, including tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and a new agent containing dextromethorphan and quinidine. The growing number of treatment options, some of great benefit to patients, highlights the importance of accurate diagnosis of this disorder.

Affective Symptoms↗

PubMed2007

[A introduction to despair as a psychopathological phenomenon].

Despair as a phenomenon has not received much attention from psychopathologists, which is difficult to grasp in the clinical context. This paper is an attempt to elaborate upon despair as a key concept and thus open up a new field in psychopathology. The historical approach leads to a twofold view on despair, namely as an affect and as a cognitive structure. The paper therefore follows both the affect theories developed since the onset of the modern era and the cognitive theories on doubt at risk of progressing into despair. Using current approaches of cognitive emotional psychology, despair is defined as an oscillating, affective-cognitive process: the oscillation of doubt is reflected in the alternation of various single affects such as hope, fear, anxiety, anger, shame, guilt, and sadness and then moves towards the negative pole of increasing affect diffusion, loss of object relation, hopelessness, and suicidality. On the basis of this model it is possible to elaborate specific types of despair in individual psychiatric disorders, assessments of the stage of the process, and possible therapeutic strategies.

Affective Symptoms↗

PubMed2007

Factors related to anxiety and depression in women with breast cancer and their husbands: role of alexithymia and family functioning.

GOALS OF WORK: The purpose of this study was to explore alexithymia, family functioning, and other factors that might affect anxiety and depression levels in women with breast cancer and in their husbands. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in 46 postsurgical ambulatory women with breast cancer and their husbands. Documented informed consent for the study was obtained from each subject. All subjects completed the Zung self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), the Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS), the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20), and the family assessment device (FAD). MAIN RESULTS: Multiple regression analysis revealed that a high degree of alexithymia in patients correlated with a high degree of patient anxiety. Patient perceptions of inappropriate affective responsiveness among family members correlated with a high degree of depression. Among husbands, a high degree of anxiety was correlated with their own high level of alexithymia or low level of education, and with the occurrence of adjuvant therapy in their wives. Husband perceptions of inappropriate sharing of roles among family members, their own low education level, and a large number of family members correlated with high degrees of depression among them. CONCLUSIONS: The present study revealed that alexithymia and family functioning are associated with anxiety and depression, respectively, in both women with breast cancer and in their husbands. Individual traits such as alexithymia and family functioning should be taken into account when we intervene to treat anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients and their husbands.

Affective Symptoms↗