Guide to the Mental Status Exam

A) Appearance

B) Behavior

Alertness OR Level of Consciousness

Table: Assessing Glasgow Coma Scale

Psychomotor agitation/retardation

Cooperation

Attitude / demeanor

C) Speech

Rate, tone, volume

D) Affect / Mood

Affect – Type, range

Type

Range

E) Thought Process

Linear / Circumstantial / Tangential / Flight of ideas / loose associations

Rambling, word salad, incoherence

Thought blocking, Poverty of thought

Pressured vs poverty of speech

Perseveration / echolalia

Clanging / neologisms

F) Thought content

Suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation

Delusions

Loss of control

Misidentification Syndromes

Hallucinations – auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, somatic

Derealization / depersonalization:

Obsessions / Compulsions

Hyperreligiosity, hyperphilosophical

G) Cognitive

H) Insight /Judgment