Mood vs Affect
A patient says, “I feel great!” while crying throughout the interview. Type of affect?
What is incongruent affect?
Patient jumps rapidly between unrelated topics.
What is loose associations?
Hearing voices when alone.
What is auditory hallucination?
Patient states, “I don’t need treatment. Everyone else is the problem.”
What is poor insight.
Patient disoriented to time only.
What is Mild cognitive impairment or early delirium (needs context)?
Patient reports “empty and hopeless.” Examiner notes flat, immobile facial expression. What is the difference between mood and affect here?
Mood = subjective (hopeless). Affect = objective (flat).
Patient answers questions but with excessive unnecessary detail.
What is circumstantial thinking?
Misinterpreting a coat on a chair as a person.
What is an illusion?
Patient with schizophrenia stops meds because “I feel cured.”
What is impaired judgment?
Fluctuating attention + acute onset.
What is delirium?
Patient laughs while describing a traumatic event. Type of affect?
What is inappropriate affect?
Patient says, “The government put a chip in my brain.”
What is delusion (thought content)?
Patient reports feeling bugs crawling under skin.
What is tactile hallucination (formication)?
How do you assess judgment in an interview?
What are hypothetical scenarios (e.g., “What would you do if you found a stamped envelope?”)
When asking a patient to spell WORLD backwards, what domain are you assessing?
What is attention/concentration?
Patient’s affect is described as “restricted.” How is restricted affect different from flat affect?
Restricted = limited range; flat = absence of emotional expression.
Patient never returns to the original question.
What is tangential thought process?
Patient believes strangers can hear their thoughts.
What is thought broadcasting?
Patient expresses passive death wish but denies plan. Which MSE domain is most critical to explore further?
What is thought content + risk assessment (safety)?
Patient with normal orientation but poor short-term recall.
What is memory impairment (hippocampal function)?
Patient reports depressed mood but displays normal full-range affect. Give one possible explanation.
What is:
Masking
High-functioning depression
Early depression
Cultural presentation
Malingering (if clinically appropriate)
Differentiate flight of ideas from loose associations.
Flight of ideas = rapid, pressured, but still loosely connected (mania)
Loose associations = illogical, no clear connection (psychosis)
Differentiate hallucination from dissociation.
Hallucination = false sensory perception.
Dissociation = altered sense of identity or environment.
Name three elements of a suicide risk assessment.
What are Plan, intent, means (plus past attempts, protective factors)?
Differentiate dementia from delirium in one sentence.
Delirium = acute, fluctuating, impaired attention.
Dementia = chronic, progressive memory decline.