Mental Status Pysch Interviewing Terms

a state of unease or mental discomfort, e.g. patient may appear uneasy or sad

normal tranquil mood

sudden and frequent changes in expressed emotion

physician observes patient lacking an intense emotional response to distressing topics

physician observes patient has no emotional response to distressing topic

impaired speech production due to weakness of musculature

repetitions in speech

unusual changes in pitch, intonation, stresses, phrasing and rhythm in speech

soft whispering voice

speech containing grammatical errors

speech that contains word retrieval errors in general

incorrectly retrieved word is similar in meaning: "boat" instead of a "beach"

incorrectly retrieved word is similar in sound to actual word "pheletone" instead of "telephone"

incorrectly retrieved word is a new word not similar in sound or meaning "drupong" for clock

abundant, accelerated speech "___ speech"

inappropriate formal, legal speech

omission of prepositions and modifiers when speaking "bad sleep month" instead of "i had bad sleeping habits this month"

thought disturbance in which indirect, winding speech which patient gives unnecessary and often irrelevant details before arriving at the point: answers the question, keeps the main point but takes a while to get their with unnecessary details

thought disturbance marked by poor topic adherence: provides answer to a question that veers off from the topic of the question and does not return to the original topic, but still has a logical thread in the response

rapid jumping from topic to topic without completing each train of thought

speech that has no logical connection between ideas and words. the words make sentences, but the sentences dont make sense

abrupt halting of thoughts

use of sound patterns (like rhyming) rather than meaningful words, impaired intelligibility of speech

words that are created by the patient and does not have any meaning to others ("klipno" for "boots")

repetitive thought process where no matter the topic or question, patient goes back to the same topic to talk about

thought content: a belief that somebody holds with complete certainty but that is at odds with reality: "i am the queen of england"

thought content: preoccupation with distressing memories, thoughts, or worries, different from perseverative thinking in that the thought is always distressing and hopes to gain insight

thought content: a persistently recurring thought, urge, or image that is experienced as intrusive or unwanted and results in anxiety