Mental Status Exam (MSE)

Part of the clinical assessment that describes the sum total of the examiner’s observations and impressions of the client at the time of the interview

Mental Status Exam

• Appearance

• Behavior and Psychomotor Activity

• Attitude Toward Examiner

General Descriptions

• Mood

• Affect

• Appropriateness

Mood and Affect

Can be described in terms of its:

• Quantity

• Rate of Production

• Quality

Speech

• Process or Form of Thought

• Content of Thought

Thought

Hallucinations and illusions that may be experienced in reference to the self or environment.

Perceptual Disturbances

• Alertness and Level of Consciousness

• Orientation

• Memory

• Concentration and Attention

• Capacity to Read and Write

• Visuospatial Ability

• Abstract Thinking

• Fund of Information and Intelligence

Sensorium and Cognition

The capability of controlling sexual, aggressive, and other impulses in the measurement of client’s potential danger to self and others.

Impulse Control

Examples: talkative, silent, unspontaneous, or normally responsive to cues from the interviewer

Speech Quantity

Examples: rapid or slow

Rate of Speech Production

Examples: pressured, hesitant, dramatic, monotonous, loud, whispered

Speech Quality