Assessment of Mood in Mental Status Examination (Examination of Mood Disorders)

Assessment of Mood in Mental Status Examination (Examination of Mood Disorders). Mood is a patient’s subjective description of how they are feeling over a period of time. It is determined by directly asking the patient to describe how they are feeling in their own words in the past one month. It is documented as a verbatim report of the patient.

Cross-sectional observation by the practitioner of expression through their non-verbal language depicts the objective assessment of mood/affect. Terms often used are euthymic, happy, sad, irritated, angry, agitated, restricted, blunted, flat, broad, bizarre, full, labile, anxious, bright, elated, euphoric.[6] In addition to these terms, the range of affect may be described. For example, a patient may be minimally irritated versus extremely agitated. Some practitioners will also specify whether the affect is appropriate to the situation. A patient who is smiling and laughing after being brought into the hospital for involuntary evaluation is considered to have an inappropriately elated affect. Another descriptor clinicians may use to describe affect is whether the affect is congruent or incongruent to the thought process.

To summarise -

Subjective mood: Ask – “How has been your mood for most periods of the day over the last one month” – give verbatim description given by the patient.

Affect: Cross-sectional observation of facial emotional expression, motor behavior, gestures, posture, speech
(Euphoric/irritable/depressed/anxious/perplexed/restricted/blunted or flat).

Range: intact/restricted

Reactivity: preserved/absent

Lability: (rapid shifts of mood during an interview) present/absent

Appropriateness to situation and congruency to though the process



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