5/ Menal Health Flashcards
(37 cards)
What are some contributors to suicidal thoughts in medical students?
- Unhappy about achievement
- Self criticism
- Stigma
- Don’t know who to go to
- Culture of bravado
- Feeling trapped
- Comparison
- Existential issues
- Sexual, sexuality or gender issues
What is your role in a situation where someone is suicidal?
- Depends on the person and your own needs
- Mostly keep them safe for now until someone else can take over
What are some high priority warning signs for suicide?
- Threatening to kill themselves
- Actively looking for ways to kill themselves
- Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide
What are some low priority warning signs for suicide?
- Hopelessness
- Anger, revenge seeking
- Risky behaviours
- Feeling trapped
- Inc. drug and alcohol use
- Social withdrawal
- Anxiety, agitation, sleep disturbance
- Significant mood changes
- N purpose, no reason for loving
What are the 3 steps to dealing with a suicidal person?
- Connecting with suicide (I care)
- Understanding choices (I hear you)
- Assisting life (I’ll help)
What are the three branches of understanding choices related to suicide?
- Ask about a plan
- Listen to their story
- Identify turning points
What are some examples of turning points related to a convo about suicide?
- Rejects suicide
- Hopes for something
- Uncertain about choices
- Willing to try
How do you assist life with a suicidal person?
- Develop a safety plan and confirm actions
2. Identify life protectors
What is the purpose of the mental state exam?
- Elicit symptoms and signs to aid diagnosis
- Ensure assessments are consistent across time and examiners
- Monitor the patient over time
What are the components of a mental state exam?
(ASEPTIC R)
- Appearance and behaviour
- Speech
- Emotion (mood, affect)
- Perception (hallucinations, illusions)
- Thoughts (form, content)
- Insight and judgement
- Cognition
- Risk
What are important aspects of behaviour in the MSE?
- Eye contact
- Co operativeness
- Motor activity
- Abnormal movements
- Expressive gestures
What aspects of speech do you assess in the MSE?
- Articulate disturbance
- Rate
- Volume
- Quantity
Distinguish between mood and affect
Mood = subjective (what the patient reports)
Affect = objective
What are important aspects of mood?
- Range
- Depth
- Appropriateness
- Volatility
Distinguish between hallucinations and illusions
Hallucinations = sense something in the absence of stimuli
Illusions = when something is there but you see it as something else
What are some aspects of thought form/process in the MSE
- Goal direct/organised
- Amount or speed of thought
- Continuity of ideas
- Disturbances in language
What are some different types of delusions?
- Religious
- Nihilistic
- Morbid jealous/infidelity
- Grandoise
- Guilt and worthlessness
- Somatic//hypochondriacal
- Erotomaniac
Distinguish between insight and judgement
Insight = what you know Judgement = what you do with that
What are two tools to assess cognition?
MMSE or MOCA
How do you assess cognition in the MSE?
- Level of consciousness/alertness
- Memory
- Orientation (time, place, person)
- Concentration
- Abstract ideas
What are the three types of risk you assess in the MSE?
- To self (suicide, self harm)
- To others (violence, homicide)
- From neglect
What are the 3 circuitries for happiness?
- Calm/contentment
- Excitement/drive
- Connection/Compassion
What is the difference between empathy and compassion?
Empathy is recognising suffering but compassion is wanting to alleviate it (motivation)
If the brain is wired for compassion why is there so much hate in the world?
- Only one mind state at a time
- The brain is wired for survival, not to be happy
- Compassion is difficult when you are under threat
