Behavior and Psychomotor Activity •This can include: •Mannerisms, tics, gestures, twitches, stereotyped behavior, echopraxia, hyperactivity, agitation, combativeness, flexibility, rigidity, gait, and agility. •Take note of movements which can result due to drug side effects eg. TD or EPS or tremors

It is a structured way of observing and describing a patient's psychological functioning at a given point in time, under the domains of appearance, attitude, behavior, mood and affect, speech, thought process, thought content, perception, cognition, insight, and judgment. [1]

At first, conducting a mental status examination (MSE) can feel “different” and daunting to non-medical mental health professionals. However, even though the MSE is a modernist medical-psychiatric assessment tool, it’s also possible to conduct MSEs more collaboratively.

Although a formal MSE would be done by a physician or psychologist, you can do an informal MSE in which you systematically look at the person's thinking process, feeling state, and behavior. You will want to understand the way the person functions emotionally and cognitively.

The mental status examination can be divided into the broad categories of appearance, behavior, motor activity, speech, mood, affect, thought process, thought content, perceptual disturbances, cognition, insight, and judgment.