Mental State Examination

Component	Observation	Common findings	Illness
General Appearance	Body Build Posture Clothing (Appropriateness/ Color) Grooming Hygiene Physical Stigmata(Tattoos) Facial Expression (depression, worry)	Bizarre Appearance	Mania, Schizophrenia, Personality disorder
		Unkempt	Schizophrenia, Depression
		Anxious, Apprehensive	Anxiety disorder
		Over Bright Clothing	Mania, Personality disorder
		Scarred wrist, tattoos	Personality disorder
Speech	Tempo Modulation Quality	Increased Tempo	Mania, Acute Schizophrenia
		Slowed	Depression
Mood	Persistent Emotional State: Depth Intensity Duration Fluctuation of mood	Depressed	Depression
		Anxious/irritable	Anxiety disorder, Depression
Affect	The way patient conveys emotional state: Full Blunted Restricted Inappropriate	Blunted/Restricted	Schizophrenia
Thought	Thought Form - Quantity of ideas(pressured /slow) - Flow (Fragmented, connected) - Logical Thought content - Suicidal - Delusion	Disorder of thought form	Schizophrenia
		Flight of ideas	Mania, schizophrenia
		Poverty of ideas	Schizophrenia, mania depression
		Delusions	Schizophrenia, mania, depression
Perception	Hallucination(does it have clear sensorium )	Visual Hallucination	Alcohol withdrawal, drug intoxication, acute brain syndrome, epilepsy
		Auditory Hallucination	schizophrenia
		Tactile(touch) / Gustatory (taste)	Schizophrenia, epilepsy
Cognition	Alertness/ Conciousness - Level of alertness - Fluctuating levels	clouding	delirium
	Orientation - Time - Place - Person	Disorientation	Dementia, Delirium
	Short term memory	Loss of short term memory	Dementia, Delirium
	Long term memory	Loss of long term memory	Dementia
	Concentration	Poor concentration	Delirium, acute psychosis
	General Knowledge and intelligence	Poor general knowledge	Dementia, Delirium
Judgment	Capacity to behave properly	Impaired judgment	Psychoses, dementia. Personality disorder
Insight	Awareness of own problem and level of understanding	Lack of insight	Psychoses, dementia