Mental Status Examination Affect and Mood

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Mental Status Examination Affect and Mood

• Affect
• An individuals outward expression of emotion.

• Inappropriate
• Restricted Range
• Intensity
• Blunted or Flat
• Exaggerated, Heightened, or Overdramatic
• Mobility (decreased/excessive)

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Mental Status Examination Affect and Mood

• Mood
• An individuals personal experience of emotion.

Euthymic Neither happy nor sad Dysphoric
Unpleasant feelings Euphoric Cheerful, elated,
possibly even ecstatic
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Mental Status Examination
Motivation Motivational impairment can make even
ordinary life tasks seem insurmountable.
Sense of Self Disturbances of the individuals
sense of who I am include

• depersonalization

• identity confusion

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Mental Status Examination
Cognitive Functioning Level of intelligence
evidence by details such as memory and abstract
ability. Problems might include memory
impairment associated with Alzheimers
Insight and Judgment Understanding and decision
making.
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Psychological Testing

• What Makes a Good Psychological Test?

• Validity
• Predictive
• Content
• Reliability
• Standardization

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What is intelligence?
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Howard Gardiners Theory of Multiple of
Intelligences
Verbal Thinking Are you a creative and
skilled writer? Skilled reader? Spatial Skills
Are you good at visualizing through verbal
instructions? Blueprints? Logical
Mathematical Skills Has math always come
easy to you? Are you good at deductive
reasoning or the use of logic? Movement Skills
Do have good fine motor coordination? Are you
good in sports? Musical Skills Do you have
an ear for music? Can you play a musical
instrument well? Insightful Skills for
Understanding Others Are you a people
person? Do you get along well with just about
everyone? Insightful Skills for
Self-Understanding Are you well in touch
with your thoughts and feelings?
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How do we interpret IQ test results?

• Does a low score on an IQ test mean someone is
  not smart?
• Factors that can affect test outcome besides IQ
• What do we make of differences in scores between
  different ethnic groups?
• African-Americans (as a group) are not as smart
  as Caucasians and Asians
• IQ tests are biased vs. certain groups
• IQ tests predominantly measure academically-orient
  ed skills. Groups with less access to learning
  these skills will do more poorly on IQ tests
• What about IQ tests that are supposed to be
  Culture-free?

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Personality and Diagnostic Testing
Self-Report Clinical Inventories contain
standardized questions with fixed response
categories that the test-taker completes,
self-reporting the extent to which the
responses characterize him or her.

• MMPI and MMPI-2
• NEO Personality Inventory
• MCMI-III