ATI MENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT RETAKE GUIDE-RELIABLE CORRECT STUDY GUIDE

Defining Mental Status • Mental status cannot be scrutinized directly like the characteristics of skin or heart sounds • Its functioning is inferred through assessment of an individual’s behaviors: o Consciousness ▪ Being aware of one's own existence, feelings, and thoughts and of the environment. This is the most elementary of mental status functions. o Language ▪ Using the voice to communicate one's thoughts and feelings. This is a basic tool of humans, and its loss has a heavy social impact on the individual. o Mood and affect ▪ Both of these elements deal with the prevailing feelings. Affect is a temporary expression of feelings or state of mind, and mood is more durable, a prolonged display of feelings that color the whole emotional life. ...............................................................................................CONTINUED