Assignment: Mental Status Exam
Assignment: Mental Status Exam
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Post should be at least 400–450 words in length..
The DSM-5 (2013) explains that for a person to be diagnosed with a mental illness, there has to be clinical significance that is evident in a disturbance in the individual’s cognitive, emotion regulation, or behavior. For this Assignment, you will be discussing elements of the diagnosing process.
To prepare for this week’s Discussion, review the following videos in addition to this week’s assigned Reading.
- Duran, M. V. (2013). Mental status exam. Retrieved from
- Duran, M. V. (2013). Clinical assessment. Retrieved from
Select one of the case studies (accessible from the Course Home page) and address the following questions and issues about diagnosing mental illness:
- Explain what the purpose of a clinical assessment is.
- Identify a commonly used instrument clinicians or psychologists use to screen for the chosen disorder and its purpose (what it screens for).
- Explain what clinical significance is and one challenge that a clinical professional might have when trying to determine whether a patient’s symptoms is clinically significant.
- Explain why a cause of mental illness may be different from patient-to-patient.
Case Study will be sent,,,,
he history and Mental Status Examination (MSE) are the most important diagnostic tools a psychiatrist has to obtain information to make an accurate diagnosis. Although these important tools have been standardized in their own right, they remain primarily subjective measures that begin the moment the patient enters the office.
Pinel stated “To seize the true character of mental derangement in a given case, and to pronounce an infallible prognosis of the event, is often a task of particular delicacy, and requires the united exertion of great discernment, of extensive knowledge and of incorruptible integrity. ” This exemplifies the importance of the mental status examination to the practice of psychiatry
