NSE 13A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Mental Status Examination, Heart Sounds
Components of a Mental Status Assessment
The Components Included in the Assessment of Mental Status of an Individual
Mental status includes a person's emotional and cognitive functioning. Mental health is
relative and ongoing. Everyone has "good" and "bad" days. Usually, mental status strikes
a balance, allowing the person to function socially and occupationally.
Unlike other systems of assessment, mental status cannot be scrutinized directly like the
characteristics of the skin or heart sounds. Its functioning is inferred through the
assessment of an individual's behaviour. Provided below are components that should be
considered while carrying out the assessment of one’s mental status.
With a peer carryout an assessment of the following components of a Mental Status
Assessment.
1. Level of consciousness. This is the level of awareness of one's own existence,
feelings, thoughts, and surrounding environment. This is the most elementary of
mental status functions.
2. Language. Language is the voice that is used to communicate one's thoughts and
feelings. This is a basic tool of human beings, and its loss can have a heavy social
impact upon the individual. With changes in mental status, the “voice” that is used
can also change. For example, from a state of verbal interactiveness to that of
withdrawing from others and refusing to verbally engage.
3. Mood and affect. These are the elements that deal with the prevailing feelings of
an individual. Affect is the temporary expression of feelings or state of mind.
Mood is more durable, a prolonged display of feelings that color the whole
emotional life or being of the person.
4. Orientation. This is the awareness of the objective world in relation to the self.
5. Attention. Attention is the power of concentration, the ability of a person to focus
on one specific thing without being distracted by many environmental stimuli.
6. Memory. Memory is the ability of the person to lay down and store experiences
and perceptions for later recall. Recent memory evokes day-to-day events, while
remote memory can bring up years' worth of experiences.
7. Abstract reasoning. This is the pondering of the deeper meaning beyond the
concrete and literal.
8. Thought processes. This is the way that a person thinks the logical train of
thought that is established by the individual.
9. Thought content. This is what the person thinks, his/her specific ideas, beliefs,
and his/her use of words.
10. Perceptions. Perception is a person’s awareness of objects through the five senses.
(Jarvis, 2008)
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Document Summary
The components included in the assessment of mental status of an individual. Mental status includes a person"s emotional and cognitive functioning. Usually, mental status strikes a balance, allowing the person to function socially and occupationally. Unlike other systems of assessment, mental status cannot be scrutinized directly like the characteristics of the skin or heart sounds. Its functioning is inferred through the assessment of an individual"s behaviour. Provided below are components that should be considered while carrying out the assessment of one"s mental status. With a peer carryout an assessment of the following components of a mental status. This is the level of awareness of one"s own existence, feelings, thoughts, and surrounding environment. This is the most elementary of mental status functions: language. Language is the voice that is used to communicate one"s thoughts and feelings. This is a basic tool of human beings, and its loss can have a heavy social impact upon the individual.
