CMN548 unit 1 Psychiatric history and psychiatric assessment 2025-2026 Most Recent Version Comprehensive 125 Questions and Verified Answers Accurate Solutions Already Graded A+ Get It 100% Correct
*circumstantiality - CORRECT ANSWER: overincludes or adding too many trivial or
irrelevant details not related to the questions but eventually DOES ANSWER the question (goes full circle to get to the point)
*Can follow the train of thought, seeing connections between sequences
*clang associations - CORRECT ANSWER: thoughts associated by sound usually
rhyming
*derailment - CORRECT ANSWER: loose associations, no logical connection between
words and a sentence that makes sense
synonmous with loose associations
*flight of ideas - CORRECT ANSWER: succession of multiple associations that move from one idea to another
Assessing pregnancy history of women - CORRECT ANSWER: *history of prenatal
problems, birthing issues, developmental milestones *reproductive and menstrual history *pregnancy assessment (ask "how do you know you are not pregnant?)
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CAGE assessment - CORRECT ANSWER: For alcohol abuse
*Have you ever cut down on your drinking?*have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?*guilt about drinking?*eye-opener (need drink in AM)
carlat ch15:psychiatric history essential syndrome history questions to ask - CORRECT
ANSWER: *how old were you when you first had these symptoms?
*how many episodes did you have?*when was the last episode?*premorbid functioning
carlat mnemonic for the mental status exam: All borderline subjects are tough, troubled
characters - CORRECT ANSWER: *Appearance
*Behavior *Speech *Affect *Thought process *Thought content *Cognitive
carlat significance of complete lack of insight
significance of poor sight - CORRECT ANSWER: complete lack of insight= psychotic or dementia
poor insight- character disorder or low intelligence
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carlat: appropriateness of affect - CORRECT ANSWER: inappropriate behavior may not reflect pathology
carlat: assess for memory tests- most clinically valid tests - CORRECT ANSWER: *short term and long term
*orientation* *person (a recall of your name is long term memory), place,
- time / date (assess short term- ability to retain new info)
*three object recall- after two minutes useful test to dx cognitive impairment. * Have person repeat words to make sure they heard you correctly.Ask them to repeat 3 words after asking them a few more things about general
knowledge:
*recall of remote personal events address, phone, name of spouse, siblings, *recall of general cultural information inability to recall this info (last 3 presidents or famous dates) indicates a long term memory problem
**normal cognitive capacity people can remember all 3 words. If <3, indicates a short term memory problem
Carlat: assessing for attention - CORRECT ANSWER: *the digit span and the SSST - but research studies have not endorsed them
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*best way to assess for attention is noticing if your patient is paying attention when you speak to him.
Carlat: common pitfalls for beginners - CORRECT ANSWER: spending too much time on the HPI(history of present illness)
carlat: definition of intelligence - CORRECT ANSWER: ability manipulate information
Carlat: elements of cognition that you should assess - CORRECT ANSWER: *level of awarness or wakefulness *attention or concentration *memory *judgement *insight
carlat: Folstein MMSE - CORRECT ANSWER: *30 max score. If < 30 may indicate cognitive impairment. (score varies with age and education)
*sensitivity is high for identifying dementia (sensitivity of a clinical test refers to the ability of the test to correctly identify those patients with the disease)
BUT low specificity which labels healthy people as having dementia (clinical test refers to the ability of the test to correctly identify those patients without the disease.)
*use of MMSE in psych evals is controversial. Most useful for clinicians with little training in psych
Carlat: for efficient and rapid diagnostic interview - CORRECT ANSWER: if the patient mentions a symptom, for example depressed mood, immediate assess for the diagnostic criteria for that disorder- go to the diagnostic questions right away
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