Medical-surgical Nursing Demystified

(^452) Medical-Surgical Nursing Demystified

A Look at Mental Health

Alterations in mental health can be more difficult to diagnose because there is no

definitive laboratory test or radiological study with which to isolate the disorder.

Patients may initially seek treatment from primary care practitioners for a variety

of complaints: anxiety, insomnia, generalized aches, or other somatic complaints.

A thorough patient history should include past medical conditions, any prior

mental health conditions and their treatment course, current medications, social

history (including habits, work, exercise, and substance use), cultural background,

environmental factors, family history, and changes in libido, appetite, or sleep.

Physical examination focuses on the chief complaint from the patient’s point

of view and traces the progression of symptoms in a chronological order from

the time of onset. Mental status examination is completed focusing on the patient’s

appearance, activity and behavior, affect, mood, speech, content of thought, thought

process, cognition, judgment, and insight.

Key Terms

Affect

Cognition

Content of thought

Delusions

Impairment in judgment

Insight

Judgment

Mood

Paranoid ideation

Selective serotonin

reuptake inhibitors

Suicidal ideation

Thought process

Anxiety

Panic disorder

Depression

Bipolar disorder

Schizophrenia

Anorexia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa

Delirium

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Learning Objectives