The Psychiatric Interview and Mental Status Examination

Abstract

The interview and mental status examination are integral to the comprehensive patient assessment and typically follow a standard approach that most medical students and residents learn. The psychiatrist should adjust his or her interview style and information-gathering approach to suit the patient and the situation. For example, inpatients are typically more symptomatic than outpatients, may be in the hospital on an involuntary basis, and may be too ill to participate in even the briefest interview. Note taking is an essential task but should not interfere with patient rapport. The interview should be organized in a systematic fashion that, although covering all essential elements, is relatively stereotyped so that it allows the psychiatrist to commit the format to memory that, once learned, can be varied. The psychiatrist should start by documenting the patient’s identifying characteristics (age, gender, marital status) and then proceed to the chief complaint, history of the present illness, past medical history, family and social history, use of drugs and alcohol, medications, and previous treatments. A formal mental status includes assessment of the patient’s appearance, attitude, and behavior; orientation and sensorium; mood and affect; psychomotor activity; thought process, speech, and thought content; memory and cognition (including attention and abstraction); and judgment and insight. With the data collected, the psychiatrist will construct an accurate history of the symptoms that will serve as the basis for developing a differential diagnosis, followed by the development of a comprehensive treatment plan. This review contains 1 figure, 3 tables, and 12 references. Key words: assessment, differential diagnosis, interviewing, mental status examination, treatment plan