ATI MENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT RETAKE GUIDE-RELIABLE CORRECT STUDY GUIDE

Mental Status • Mental status is a person’s emotional and cognitive functioning o Optimal functioning aims toward simultaneous life satisfaction in work, caring relationships, and within the self o Usually, mental status strikes a balance between good and bad days, allowing person to function socially and occupationally Question The nurse understands that all of the following are components of the mental status assessment except? 1. Known illness or health problem 2. Current medications known to affect mood or cognition 3. Cultural background 4. Personal history; current stress, social habits, sleep habits, and drug and alcohol use Mental Status Structure and Function • Mental disorder o Significant behavioral or psychological pattern associated with the following: ▪ Distress, a painful symptom ▪ Disability, impaired functioning ▪ Significant risk of pain, disability, or death, or a loss of freedom Mental Status Structure and Function (Cont.) • Organic disorders o Due to brain disease of known specific organic cause (e.g., delirium, dementia, alcohol and drug intoxication and withdrawal) • Psychiatric mental illnesses o Organic etiology has not yet been established (e.g., anxiety disorder or schizophrenia) o Mental status assessment documents a dysfunction and determines how that dysfunction affects self-care in everyday life Defining Mental Status • Mental status cannot be scrutinized directly like the characteristics of skin or heart sounds • Its functioning is inferred through assessment of an individual’s behaviors: o Consciousness ▪ Being aware of one's own existence, feelings, and thoughts and of the environment. This is the most elementary of mental status functions. o Language ▪ Using the voice to communicate one's thoughts and feelings. This is a basic tool of humans, and its loss has a heavy social impact on the individual. o Mood and affect ▪ Both of these elements deal with the prevailing feelings. Affect is a temporary expression of feelings or state of mind, and mood is more durable, a prolonged display of feelings that color the whole emotional life. ...............................................................................CONTINUED