In this episode, we will continue our series on the mental status exam by reviewing mood and affect. What is the difference between mood and affect? This can be a common area of confusion for learners, and we will spend some time reviewing the key differences. Following this, we will dig more deeply into affect and define terms that can help you to accurately describe a patient’s affect in your mental status exam.

Photo credit: Paul Ebbage, Flickr

Episode Music Credit: Javier Suárez, Tumbling Dishes, Better With Music

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What is the mental status exam, and why do we use it so much in psychiatry? In the first part of our Mental Status Exam series, we will start by reviewing the purpose of the mental status exam in psychiatric practice. We will then introduce the first three components of the mental status exam- appearance, behavior, and speech. How do we decide what information to include, and what are some terms to help us describe what we’re seeing in these domains? We will discuss all of this and more!

Photo Credit: Henk Sijgers, “f8 and here,” https://www.flickr.com/photos/henk-sijgers/14204446132/

Episode Music Credit: Javier Suárez, Tumbling Dishes, Better With Music

Podcast: Play in new window | Download