Mental Health Nursing - Assessing Mental Health
Mental health assessments often include a physical exam to rule out physical problems. This can include urine tests, blood tests tests or even brain scans.
Psychologists also employ a array of tools to measure mental health. They can use pen and paper test forms to in-depth interviews or self-complete postal questionnaires.
Affect and mood
Mood and affect are among the most important elements of the mental state exam (MSE) and are the first to be observed by a doctor. They define the patient's general mood that can range from happiness to sadness, or anger to anger. The affect can be assessed through facial expressions, general attitude and reaction to external or internal stimuli. You can express your feelings by smiling at a joke, or crying when you lose a loved one.
Affect is a short-term emotion but mood is a more sustained emotional state. It is typically described as euthymic, dysphoric, or normal (meaning depression). Professionals in psychiatry must be careful to not confuse the two terms, as they are defined differently and can be affected by a variety of factors.
While the MSE is a useful clinical tool, it isn't always easy to interpret based on subjective patient report. It is therefore beneficial to ask patients how they have been feeling over the last few weeks, as opposed to relying solely on the observations of doctors. Recent research has revealed that assessment tools differed in their ability to detect a substantial part of symptoms. This included those that were classified under the same disorder. This can be due to the different emphasis placed on emotional, cognitive or physical symptoms as well as differences in the duration and frequency of reporting symptoms.
It is also possible that the MSE is based on self-reporting, which may be prone to bias. Patients who report both anxiety and a headache is likely to have a lower score compared to those who report only a migraine. Patients tend to minimize negative emotions while exaggerating positive feelings.
The mood and the affect of a person can have a direct impact on the thought content. This could affect the way we make decisions, our interpersonal behavior, and physical functioning. They can be affected by stress, fatigue and social interactions. In fact positive moods have been proven to boost creativity and thinking power. A negative mood can cause confusion and lower concentration. A thorough and careful mental health evaluation must be able to consider the patient's mood as well as affect, as well as other factors.
Thought content
One of the most important aspects of a mental state examination is to determine how the patient thinks. Particularly, evaluating thought processes and thought content. Thought process refers to the coherence, logic, and organization of a patient's thinking. The normal process of thinking is objective-oriented and rational. Thought processing can be distorted in several mental health conditions. Examples include hallucinations and delusions as well as loose associations.
A mental status examination also evaluates insight and judgement. Insight is the ability to see the presence of a problem, while judgement is the ability to make an informed decision when presented with information. Both are impaired in several mental health conditions, such as depression and schizophrenia. Patients with impaired insight or judgment is more likely to hurt themselves or others. If they are in danger, their sensible judgment would advise them to leave the house immediately. However, a person with impaired judgment may recommend staying in the house and trying to put the fire out.
The contents of a patient's mind encompasses their themes, subject matter, and beliefs. Examiners will assess the clarity, relatedness and content of a patient's thoughts. They will note tangential thoughts or circumstantial ones, and if the patient has digressions (digressions off from the main topic of the conversation). They will also make comments on the speed of a person's thoughts, such as whether they seem fast or slow.
Other areas to be considered are whether the patient's thoughts are and in tune with their environment. For instance, a patient who is depressed may hear voices that are aggressive and threatening, whereas a person with schizophrenia might have a hallucination of an ethereal and calm voice. Ask the patient if they are experiencing any suicidal or homicidal ideas. These are rare but can be life-threatening and should be considered in every mental health evaluation.
Observation
The ability of nurses to observe is crucial in a mental assessment. They are a thorough examination of behavior, appearance, any unusual beliefs or perceptions (such hallucinations or delusions) and mood cognition (including attention, memory and orientation). A mental state examination for nurses also involves observing mobility, which includes any physical movement such as eating drinking, eating, brushing teeth, using the toilet and wearing shoes.
The Observation component of the mental health examination is a crucial aspect of determining whether or not the patient is posing an imminent risk to themselves or others. This is determined by assessing whether the patient appears to be moving deliberately in a way which suggests they may be threatening to harm themself or someone else.
A thorough assessment of the thought content is also accomplished by observing the patient during the interview and determining the preoccupations. It is essential to determine if a patient is having suicidal or homicidal thoughts and to determine if they are experiencing thoughts of delusion.
Global assessment of functioning (GAF) which is an assessment of functioning in numerical form, ranging between 0 and 100, combines the ability of the person to perform in everyday life along with their capacity for managing stressors. The GAF is a key part of the mental state examination and helps guide treatment decisions.
It is crucial to be aware of the fact that observing the behavior of a patient can cause distress and it is important that the procedure is carried out in a manner that does not provoke the patient or make them feel intrusive. It is essential that the patient is fully aware of the goal of the observation and the duration of the procedure.
Nursing observation is a crucial ability that should be at the heart of any nursing process. However, it should be remembered that patients may disagree with the level of observation and if they are unable to reach an agreement with staff then they should be able to access an advocate service which can represent their interests and assist patients in any discussions about their care. This should be an integral part of the local policy and practice with the involvement of user groups, to ensure that patients are involved in the development of written documents and staff training to support this aspect of clinical governance.
assessment mental health have a hard time talking about their mental health problems however, family members will often be able to recognize the signs of something being wrong. They can also assist the person take steps to get an assessment. These assessments can be very broad and cover a variety of subjects such as mood, appearance and memory, thinking process and much more. In addition to these tests, a mental health professional will also ask the person questions about their personal life, including what has been going on lately and what their feelings have been like.
The assessment also includes a cognitive test that focuses on the ability of the person to think clearly and recall information. The person may be asked to complete simple tasks, such as focusing their attention on a list of objects or words and recollecting lists of basic information or solving math problems. The test can also be used to assess the ability of the person's judgement and to make good choices. The test also assesses the patient's understanding, which reflects their knowledge of the illness and its effects on them.
The person's attitude towards himself, others and the illness is also an important aspect of a mental assessment. The tone of voice, facial expression, and the body language of a patient may signal depression, anger or a sense of utter powerlessness. It is also important to note whether the patient appears to be seeking help or is content living with their health condition.
In more serious cases an assessment of mental health may include an examination of the patient's thoughts that could include hallucinations (false sensory perceptions without real stimuli) or illusions (misperceptions of real stimuli). These conditions can be dangerous and even deadly.
A mental health assessment should be comprehensive and look at the person's interaction with their social world. A health professional may use photographs, music, art or any other assessment tool to gain a better understanding of the person. They should also discuss the difficulties that prompted the person to seek help, and reassure them that there is nothing wrong with seeing a mental healthcare professional.