Chapter Four
Summary
It is very important for all mental health professionals to take very detailed and thorough history
information from their patients. This information should include an adequate social history, complete medical
history, and a full mental status examination with a probable treatment plan. In some cases the use of psychological
testing or evaluation instruments provides the psychologist and other therapists with additional information and
treatment direction.
Specific Discussion Questions:
1. Why is it important to gather detailed and extensive information from any patient before you counsel him/her
or make suggestions for a medication review?
2. What types of relevant information could be gleaned from the mental status examination?
3. What are the pros or cons of using some of the assessment instruments outlined in the chapter?
Possible True/False Questions:
1. Good history taking includes information on the patient’s presenting problem, family history,
psychometric/treatment history, diagnostic assessment, and proposed treatment plan.
2. The complete mental status exam consists of five sections or areas of evaluation.
3. The mental trend and thought content section provides information on themes, hallucinations, delusions,
somatizations, and substance abuse.
4. The mental status exam provides information on cognition, mental capacity, memory, academic achievement,
and intelligence.
5. The Beck Depression Inventory contains about 70 items, and is rather difficult to administer.
6. The MMPI-2 contains 567 items and should be administered by a psychologist or others with training in its
interpretation.
7. A sorter version of the PAI called the PAS consists of 22 items and could be given in just six minutes.
8. The Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory consists of 150 items and can also be hand scored.
9. It is important for every patient to have a complete physical including tests for thyroid function, metabolic
abnormalities, urine toxicology, and a CBC draw.
10. It is helpful to know what treatment approaches and medications were tried before and their level of success.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. A complete history of your client includes the following sections/areas of assessment:
a. Identifying information, patient reports family history, and diagnostic assessment.
b. Identifying information, presenting problem, proposed treatment, and summary information.
c. Identifying information, presenting problem, psychometric information, and summary.
d. Identifying information, presenting problem, family history, psychometric information, diagnostic
assessment, and proposed treatment goals and methods.
2. The full mental status includes all of the following areas of assessment except:
a. mental grasp
b. psychological reasoning
c. sensorium
d. judgment and insight
3. Which of the following contains 567 items and evaluates patients on ten clinical scales?
a. MMPI-2
b. MCMI-III
c. PAI
d. none of these
4. Which assessment instrument is offered in both a 17 and 21 question format?
a. Beck Depression Inventory
b. State-Trait Inventory
c. Geriatric Depression Inventory
d. Hamilton Depression Rating Scales
5. On the mental status exam, oriented X 3 refers to:
a. person, memory, and time.
b. person, place and situation.
c. person, place and issue.
d. person, place, and time.
6. There are _____ types of hallucinations usually noted in those who manifest psychotic behaviors.
a. three
b. four
c. five
d. six
7. Immediate, recent and _______ memory are assessed on the mental status exam.
a. long-term
b. short-term
c. distant
d. remote
8. While most of the mentioned assessment instruments require some psychometric knowledge, and some
require special training as a psychologist, the ___________ ___________ decides if your credentials are
adequate to administer various assessment/evaluation instruments.
a. Licensing board
b. Test publisher
c. Local municipality
d. Degree level
9. Which of the following personality inventories is available in an adolescent version?
a. PAI
b. MCMI-III
c. MMPI-2
d. none of these
10. Your proposed treatment plans should always include:
a. the proposed short and long term goals/objectives
b. your theoretical approach
c. your prognosis
d. all of the above
Alternative Class Assignments and Essay Questions:
1. Have each student in your class interview a client in his/her practicum or another student in the course. Ask
them to collect as much history information as possible and then ask them to write this information up in a
report format.
2. Have students pair-off in groups of two. Ask them to practice giving the mental status exam to each other.
Make sure that they have asked enough pertinent questions to assess the presence or absence of issues
measured by the exam.
3. Start a classroom discussion on the benefits for taking good history information and why it assists the
therapist before counseling begins.
4. Ask each student to make a complete list of any and all drugs or substances that they have ingested in the last
five years. Pay particularly close attention to all prescribe medications, their doses and the reasons for why
they were prescribed. What about drugs of abuse or recreation?
5. Obtain or two of the assessment instruments mentioned in the chapter. Administer this instrument
(anonymously) to the students as a group. Score the instruments and discuss the outcomes and usefulness of
the instruments.
6. Have student review the scope of practice for their respective state and their respective mental health
discipline. Does it allow for the use or interpretation of psychological testing instruments? If so, which
instruments may be used? Have them review the ethics of using testing instruments with patients.
Chapter Four
Answer Key
True/False Questions:
Multiple Choice Questions: