A psychiatric assessment is a structured clinical conversation, complemented by observation and mental state examination and supplemented by a physical examination and the interview of family members when appropriate. After the initial interview, the clinician should be able to establish whether the individual has a mental health problem or not, the nature of the problem and a plan for the most suitable treatment. The Essentials of Psychiatric Assessment provides the resident or beginning psychiatrist with a complete road map to a thorough clinical evaluation. Contents: I: Introduction Information necessary to be obtained; Site of Clinical Evaluation; Methods of Obtaining Information; Methods of Interviewing; Initiating an Interview; Strategies to get the patient’s rapport; Techniques to get information II: Psychiatric Signs and Symptoms Disturbed Consciousness; General appearance abnormalities; Behavior Disturbance; Language and Speech Disturbance; Mood and Affect Disturbance; Thought Disorders; Perceptual Disorders; Disturbance of Orientation; Disturbance of Attention and Concentration; Memory Disturbance, Evaluation of Knowledge Base; Abstraction Abnormalities; Intelligence; Abnormal Insight and Judgment; Cortical Functions; Gender Identity; Disturbance of Self III: Psychiatric Interview Identification Data; Chief Complaints; History of Present Illness; Personal History; Mental State Examination; Medical Assessment of Psychiatric Patients; Psychological Testing; Investigations in Psychiatry; IV: Special Considerations Assessment of Children and Adolescents; Emergency Evaluation; Violent and Aggressive Patients; Suicide; Forensic Assessment; Evaluation of Capacities in Psychiatry; References About the Author Mohamed Ahmed Abd El-Hay, is professor of psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta Universtiy, Tanta, Gharbia, Egypt |