ADVANCED ASSESSMENT INTERPRETING
FINDINGS AND FORMULATING DIFFERENTIAL
DIAGNOSES COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
2026 ADVANCED CLINICAL ASSESSMENT AND
DIAGNOSTIC REASONING
◉ disorder.
Answer: one meets all the criteria in the DSM for a disorder
◉ mental status exam.
Answer: no more than 5 minutes since most of differential diagnosis
will be based on history. psychiatric exam part 2 brief exam. broken
into 2 parts psychiatric and neurologic which includes the
observation of the clients appearance, motor function (tics,
tourettes), cognitive functioning, behavior, cooperation, speech and
thought pattern (logical or not), affect, mood, judgement and insight,
perception, suicidal/homicidal ideations, reliability of information
provided, oriented x3 (person, place, time), medical problems
concrete or abstract . organizes info
◉ borderline.
Answer: stable personality disorder, not going to experience
psychosis. experiences unstable attachments
,◉ cultural vs. universal.
Answer: not enough evidence to agree if psychiatric disorders or
symptoms are universal or a result of cultural or contextual factors
◉ assessment.
Answer: first step in in social work, core skill. broad, ongoing,
evaluate personal resources (family, strengths, cognitive
functioning) evaluate deficits. include health ego functioning and
mental status. risk assessment always ask depressed client about
risk of suicidal or homicide. biases impact how you assess client.
part of a psychosocial workup—an ecological approach.
◉ diagnosis.
Answer: never changes, focused, problem centered, pathology,
impacts treatment. focus on Symptoms of behavior
,individual behavior
,Focus on pathology
◉ pathology.
Answer: behave in an extreme and unacceptable way, and have very
powerful feelings that they cannot control.
◉ conduct disorder.
,Answer: children kill animals, set fires, turn into criminals, no
remorse
◉ mood vs. affect.
Answer: mood= season affect=weather. mood continues over over
time, pervasive. internally felt emotions (depression anxiety, anger).
affect may change quickly, current emotional state. outward display
of emotions should be differentiated from mood. affect is normally
appropriate to situation
◉ three types of affect (emotional states).
Answer: blunt-very little range monotone, flat- little range of
emotion, labile-rapidly changing
◉ labile.
Answer: affect- rapidly changing
◉ blunt.
Answer: very little range monotone- affect
◉ flat.
Answer: little range of emotion
, ◉ diurnal variation.
Answer: changes in mood in depression throughout the day.
typically is more severe in the morning and lessens
◉ schizophrenia.
Answer: variety of negative and positive symptoms (positive-
delusion, negative-)often have disorganized speech
◉ positive formal thought disorder/disorganized speech.
Answer: more then there should be, positive symptom
◉ types of disorganized speech.
Answer: tangetiality- responds but goes in a different direction,
circumstantiality-unnecessary details eventually makes a point,
illogical , derailment- loose associations, jumps from subject to
subject, words make sentences but sentences do not make sense,
thought blocking- sudden disruption of thought, break in flow of
ideas common in schizophrenia and dementia, clanging- using
rhymes or sounds, distractable- changes subject mid sentence, often
because they hear voices get distracted, pressure of speech- can't get
the words out fast enough, word salad/incoherance/ schizophasia-
words thrown together they make no sense
◉ negative formal thought disorder.
Answer: poverty of speech, negative symptom
FINDINGS AND FORMULATING DIFFERENTIAL
DIAGNOSES COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
2026 ADVANCED CLINICAL ASSESSMENT AND
DIAGNOSTIC REASONING
◉ disorder.
Answer: one meets all the criteria in the DSM for a disorder
◉ mental status exam.
Answer: no more than 5 minutes since most of differential diagnosis
will be based on history. psychiatric exam part 2 brief exam. broken
into 2 parts psychiatric and neurologic which includes the
observation of the clients appearance, motor function (tics,
tourettes), cognitive functioning, behavior, cooperation, speech and
thought pattern (logical or not), affect, mood, judgement and insight,
perception, suicidal/homicidal ideations, reliability of information
provided, oriented x3 (person, place, time), medical problems
concrete or abstract . organizes info
◉ borderline.
Answer: stable personality disorder, not going to experience
psychosis. experiences unstable attachments
,◉ cultural vs. universal.
Answer: not enough evidence to agree if psychiatric disorders or
symptoms are universal or a result of cultural or contextual factors
◉ assessment.
Answer: first step in in social work, core skill. broad, ongoing,
evaluate personal resources (family, strengths, cognitive
functioning) evaluate deficits. include health ego functioning and
mental status. risk assessment always ask depressed client about
risk of suicidal or homicide. biases impact how you assess client.
part of a psychosocial workup—an ecological approach.
◉ diagnosis.
Answer: never changes, focused, problem centered, pathology,
impacts treatment. focus on Symptoms of behavior
,individual behavior
,Focus on pathology
◉ pathology.
Answer: behave in an extreme and unacceptable way, and have very
powerful feelings that they cannot control.
◉ conduct disorder.
,Answer: children kill animals, set fires, turn into criminals, no
remorse
◉ mood vs. affect.
Answer: mood= season affect=weather. mood continues over over
time, pervasive. internally felt emotions (depression anxiety, anger).
affect may change quickly, current emotional state. outward display
of emotions should be differentiated from mood. affect is normally
appropriate to situation
◉ three types of affect (emotional states).
Answer: blunt-very little range monotone, flat- little range of
emotion, labile-rapidly changing
◉ labile.
Answer: affect- rapidly changing
◉ blunt.
Answer: very little range monotone- affect
◉ flat.
Answer: little range of emotion
, ◉ diurnal variation.
Answer: changes in mood in depression throughout the day.
typically is more severe in the morning and lessens
◉ schizophrenia.
Answer: variety of negative and positive symptoms (positive-
delusion, negative-)often have disorganized speech
◉ positive formal thought disorder/disorganized speech.
Answer: more then there should be, positive symptom
◉ types of disorganized speech.
Answer: tangetiality- responds but goes in a different direction,
circumstantiality-unnecessary details eventually makes a point,
illogical , derailment- loose associations, jumps from subject to
subject, words make sentences but sentences do not make sense,
thought blocking- sudden disruption of thought, break in flow of
ideas common in schizophrenia and dementia, clanging- using
rhymes or sounds, distractable- changes subject mid sentence, often
because they hear voices get distracted, pressure of speech- can't get
the words out fast enough, word salad/incoherance/ schizophasia-
words thrown together they make no sense
◉ negative formal thought disorder.
Answer: poverty of speech, negative symptom
