Mental Status Examination

1. General Appearance and Behaviour:

Well-kept and tidy/ Overly made up/ Unkempt-untidy/

Dress: Appropriate/Shabby/Inappropriate

Hair, Nails, Teeth: Negligent/ Dishevelled/ Well-groomed

Eye-contact with the Examiner: Present/Partial/Absent

Attitude towards the examiner: Cooperative/ Attentive/ Frank/ Defensive/ Exhibitionistic/ Seductive/
Hostile/ Playful/ Evasive/ Guarded/ Ingratiating/ Attention seeking/ Uncooperative/ Suspicious/
Withdrawn etc

Rapport: Easily established/Established with difficulty/Not established

Facial expression and posture: Stooped/ Upright/ Appropriate etc.

2. Touch with Surroundings: Present/Partial/Absent

Level of Consciousness:

Orientation (Time/place/person/Passage of Time):

3. Psychomotor Activity (non-goal directed): Increased/ Decreased/ Normal

4. Speech (sample of speech and comments)

Speed and ease: Normal/Very slow/Rapid/ Spontaneous/ Hesitant/ Mute/ Slurring/ Whispering/ Speaks
only when questioned

Relevance:

Coherence:

5. Thought

Form:

Stream:

Possession:

Content:
6. Mood & Affect:

Mood: Appropriate/Inappropriate, Fluctuations (Labile/even), Range (Broad/Restricted), Intensity

(Blunted/Flat/Normal),

Reactivity:

Quality: Sad, angry, hostile, indifferent, euthymic, dysphoric, detached, elated, euphoric, anxious,
animated, irritable.

7. Perceptual Disturbances:

8. Cognitive Functions:

Attention and Concentration: Comment Adequate/Inadequate

a. Digit Forward (326, 4567, 85264, 628427)

b. Digit Backward: (754, 2645, 62543, 253613)

c. Serial subtraction (100-7; 40-3; 20-1; Or days of the week backwards)

Memory: Adequate/Inadequate

Immediate (digit repetition done above):

Recent (breakfast; activities of previous night):

Remote (Birthdate, historical events):

Intelligence: Concrete/ Semi-abstract/ Abstract

General information (Prime minister/chief minister, Name few cities/rivers/prices of

commodities, or any information relevant to the background of the patient): Adequate/Inadequate

Comprehension (Similarities and Differences):

Arithmetic:

Abstract ability (Abstract meaning of 3 proverbs):

9. Judgement:
Personal (Reference period the past week. Patients' attitude to the present state? Does he regard this as
illness):
Social:
Test (what would they do if a stamped, sealed, addressed envelope is found on the street):

10. Insight:

Grade I- Complete denial of illness

Grade II- Slight awareness of being sick but denying it at the same time

Grade III- Awareness of being sick; but blaming it on external factors

Grade IV- Awareness that illness is due to something unknown in the patient

Grade V- Intellectual insight: Rationally aware of illness.

Grade VI- True Emotional insight: Emotionally aware of illness, awareness leads to changes