Diagnostic Tests for Psychological disorders
Psychological disorders Tests: Book Excerpts
Home Diagnostic Testing
These home medical tests may be relevant to Psychological disorders:
- Child Behavior: Home Testing
- Mental Health (Adults): Home Testing
- Mental Health: Home Testing:
- Brain & Neurological Disorders: Related Home Testing:
Psychological disorders Diagnosis: Book Excerpts
Diagnostic Tests for Psychological disorders: Online Medical Books
16 MEDICAL BOOKS ONLINE!
Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration,
for more information about the diagnostic tests for Psychological disorders.
Psychotic behavior:
History and physical examination
(Handbook of Signs & Symptoms (Third Edition))
Because the patient’s behavior can
make it difficult — or potentially dangerous — to obtain pertinent information, conduct the interview in a calm, safe, and well-lit room. Provide enough personal space to avoid threatening or agitating the patient. Ask him to describe his problem and circumstances that may have precipitated it. Obtain a drug history, noting especially the use of an antipsychotic, and explore his use of alcohol and other drugs, such as cocaine, indicating duration of use and amount. Ask about recent illnesses or accidents.
As the patient talks, watch for cognitive, linguistic, or perceptual abnormalities such as delusions. Do thoughts and actions seem to match? Look for unusual gestures, posture, gait, tone of voice, and mannerisms. Does the patient appear to be responding to stimuli? For example, is he looking around the room?
Interview the patient’s family. Which family members does he seem closest to? How does the family describe the patient’s relationships, communication patterns, and role? Has a family member ever been hospitalized for psychiatric or emotional illness? Ask about the patient’s compliance with his drug regimen.
Finally, evaluate the patient’s environment, educational and employment history, and socioeconomic status. Are community services available? How does the patient spend his leisure time? Does he have friends? Has he ever had a close emotional relationship?
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Handbook of Signs & Symptoms (Third Edition), 2006
Violent behavior:
History and physical examination
(Handbook of Signs & Symptoms (Third Edition))
During your evaluation, determine if the patient has a history of violent behavior. Is he intoxicated or suffering symptoms of alcohol or drug withdrawal? Does he have a history of family violence, including corporal punishment and child or spouse abuse? (See Understanding family violence.)
Watch for clues indicating that the patient is losing control and may become violent. Has he exhibited abrupt behavioral changes? Is he unable to sit still? Increased activity may indicate an attempt to discharge aggression. Does he suddenly cease activity (suggesting the calm before the storm)? Does he make verbal threats or angry gestures? Is he jumpy, extremely tense, or laughing? Such intensifying of emotion may herald loss of control.
If your patient’s violent behavior is a new development, he may have an organic disorder. Obtain a medical history, and perform a physical examination. Watch for a sudden change in his level of consciousness. Disorientation, failure to recall recent events, and display of tics, jerks, tremors, and asterixis all suggest an organic disorder.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Handbook of Signs & Symptoms (Third Edition), 2006
Psychotic behavior:
History and physical examination
(Professional Guide to Signs & Symptoms (Fifth Edition))
Because the patient’s behavior can make it difficult—or potentially dangerous—to obtain pertinent information, conduct the interview in a calm, safe, and well-lit room. Provide enough personal space to avoid threatening or agitating the patient. Ask him to describe his problem and any circumstances that may have precipitated it. Obtain a drug history, noting especially use of an antipsychotic, and explore his use of alcohol and other drugs such as cocaine, indicating duration of use and amount. Ask about any recent illnesses or accidents.
As the patient talks, watch for cognitive, linguistic, or perceptual abnormalities such as delusions. Do thoughts and actions seem to match? Look for unusual gestures, posture, gait, tone of voice, and mannerisms. Does the patient appear to be responding to stimuli? For example, is he looking around the room?
Interview the patient’s family. Which family members does he seem closest to? How does the family describe the patient’s relationships, communication patterns, and role? Has any family member ever been hospitalized for psychiatric or emotional illness? Ask about the patient’s compliance with his drug regimen.
Finally, evaluate the patient’s environment, educational and employment history, and socioeconomic status. Are community services available? How does the patient spend his leisure time? Does he have friends? Has he ever had a close emotional relationship?
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Professional Guide to Signs & Symptoms (Fifth Edition), 2006
Violent behavior:
History and physical examination
(Professional Guide to Signs & Symptoms (Fifth Edition))
During your evaluation, determine if the patient has a history of violent behavior. Is he intoxicated or suffering symptoms of alcohol or drug withdrawal? Does he have a history of family violence, including corporal punishment and child or spouse abuse? (See Understanding family violence, page 800.)
Watch for clues indicating that the patient is losing control and may become violent. Has he exhibited abrupt behavioral changes? Is he unable to sit still? Increased activity may indicate an attempt to discharge aggression. Does he suddenly cease activity (suggesting the calm before the storm)? Does he make verbal threats or angry gestures? Is he jumpy, extremely tense, or laughing? Such intensifying of emotion may herald loss of control.
If your patient’s violent behavior is a new development, he may have an organic disorder. Obtain a medical history, and perform a physical examination. Watch for a sudden change in his level of consciousness. Disorientation, failure to recall recent events, and a display of tics, jerks, tremors, and asterixis all suggest an organic disorder.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Professional Guide to Signs & Symptoms (Fifth Edition), 2006
Psychotic behavior:
Physical assessment
(Signs & Symptoms: A 2-in-1 Reference for Nurses)
Assess the patient’s appearance, behavior, mood, thought, coping mechanisms, and potential for self-destructive behavior. As the patient talks, watch for cognitive, linguistic, or perceptual abnormalities such as delusions. Do thoughts and actions seem to match? Look for unusual gestures, posture, gait, tone of voice, and mannerisms. Does the patient appear to be responding to stimuli? For example, is he looking around the room?
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Signs & Symptoms: A 2-in-1 Reference for Nurses, 2007
Psychotic behavior:
History and physical examination
(Nursing: Interpreting Signs and Symptoms)
Because the patient's behavior can make it difficult—or potentially dangerous—to obtain pertinent information, conduct the interview in a calm, safe, and well-lit room. Provide enough personal space to avoid threatening or agitating the patient. Ask him to describe his problem and circumstances that may have precipitated it. Obtain a drug history, noting especially the use of an antipsychotic, and explore his use of alcohol and other drugs, such as cocaine, indicating duration of use and amount and when it was last taken. Ask about recent illnesses or accidents.
As the patient talks, watch for cognitive, linguistic, or perceptual abnormalities such as delusions. Do thoughts and actions seem to match? Look for unusual gestures, posture, gait, tone of voice, and mannerisms. Does the patient appear to be responding to stimuli? For example, is he looking around the room?
Interview the patient's family. Which family members does he seem closest to? How does the family describe the patient's relationships, communication patterns, and role? Has a family member ever been hospitalized for psychiatric or emotional illness? Ask about the patient's compliance with his drug regimen.
Finally, evaluate the patient's environment, educational and employment history, and socioeconomic status. Are community services available? How does the patient spend his leisure time? Does he have friends? Has he ever had a close emotional relationship?
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Nursing: Interpreting Signs and Symptoms, 2007
Violent behavior:
History and physical examination
(Nursing: Interpreting Signs and Symptoms)
During your evaluation, determine whether the patient has a history of violent behavior. Is he intoxicated or suffering symptoms of alcohol or drug intoxication or withdrawal? Does he have a history of family violence, including corporal punishment and child or spouse abuse? (See Understanding family violence.)
Watch for clues indicating that the patient is losing control and may become violent. Has he exhibited abrupt behavioral changes? Is he unable to sit still? Increased activity may indicate an attempt to discharge aggression. Does he suddenly cease activity (suggesting the calm before the storm)? Does he make verbal threats or angry gestures? Is he jumpy, extremely tense, or laughing? Such intensifying of emotion may herald loss of control.
If your patient's violent behavior is a new development, he may have an organic disorder. Obtain a medical history and perform a physical examination. Watch for a sudden change in his level of consciousness. Disorientation, failure to recall recent events, and display of tics, jerks, tremors, and asterixis all suggest an organic disorder.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Nursing: Interpreting Signs and Symptoms, 2007
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