The mental status examination is a structured assessment of the patient's behavioral and cognitive functioning. It includes descriptions of the patient's appearance and general behavior, level of consciousness and attentiveness, motor and speech activity, mood and affect, thought and perception, attitude and insight, the reaction evoked in the examiner, and, finally, higher cognitive abilities. The specific cognitive functions of alertness, language, memory, constructional ability, and abstract reasoning are the most clinically relevant.
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