What is true: A mental-health assessment usually includes…?
From the book – Chapter 33: How Mental Health Conditions Are Assessed and Diagnosed
The right answer
A careful interview, observation, information from others where appropriate and physical checks where needed
Step 5: Information from others
With your permission, relatives, teachers, or partners may give extra information. For children and for conditions such as ADHD or dementia, this is especially valuable.
Read the full chapter – Chapter 33: How Mental Health Conditions Are Assessed and Diagnosed
Stories from real life
- Eleven Questions, One Long Breath – Nomvula, forty-one, had put off her first appointment with a psychiatrist in Durban for six months. She was afraid the doctor would judge her or write…
- Seventy-Four Per Cent on the Internet – Aiden, twenty, a university student in Melbourne, found a video called 'Signs you have ADHD' and a quiz that gave him a score of seventy-four per…
- Thyroid, Not Just Nerves – Marta, thirty-eight, an accountant in Warsaw, had been anxious for months. Her heart raced, her hands trembled, she lost weight, and she could not concentrate at…
- A Diagnosis That Changed – Hamid, twenty-seven, from Birmingham, was diagnosed with depression two years ago after a long low period. A medicine helped for a few months. Then he suddenly…
More on this topic: What is mental health? A simple guide to the mind and who can help
More questions
- Why do doctors sometimes order physical tests during an assessment?
- What is true: screening tools such as short questionnaires…?
- What is true: having two or more conditions at the same time, such as anxiety and depression, is called…?
- Eleven Questions, One Long Breath – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- Seventy-Four Per Cent on the Internet – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- Thyroid, Not Just Nerves – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- A Diagnosis That Changed – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- Maya Will Not Sit Still, Or Is It More? – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- Why diagnosis matters?
- Who can diagnose?
- Psychologist, psychiatrist or counsellor – what is the difference?
- Early warning signs of mental distress