Diagnosis And Management
A psychiatric mental health initial assessment is an essential part of mental healthcare that should be implemented by all mental health providers in all settings. The assessment provides a holistic understanding of the patient and their mental health issues. It is clinically valuable to medical students and residents to complete a comprehensive psychiatric assessment. It is an efficient and comprehensive approach to screening psychiatric illnesses. One important aspect of the assessment is the ability of the professional to include all parts of the initial assessment. The provider should be able to cover all the important areas of the initial assessment. Questions should cover the patient’s current symptoms, feelings, thought processes, and behaviors. A provider should also inquire about the patient’s stressors and support system.
The assessment is critical to the care of the mental health patient since it is the based upon which the treatment plan is designed. The assessment involves gathering information about a patient to make a diagnosis. The assessment provides the provider with a comprehensive understanding of the current mental status of the patient and their needs. The assessment findings help detect signs and symptoms and determine the possible underlying conditions, severity level, and the patient’s disposition (Voss & Das, 2022). The provider can determine the patient’s risk factors based on their medical and family history. From the initial assessment, a provider can also determine the cause of the patient’s mental illness. For example, work-related stress or family conflicts can contribute to the mental health symptoms exhibited by the patient. The mental health provider can therefore make an accurate diagnosis. Mental health is also designed to meet the specific needs of the patient. For example, in consideration of the support systems available to the patient. The design of a treatment plan influences patient experience, outcomes, and satisfaction.
I was surprised to see medical and surgical history, medications, and family history as part of the initial mental health assessment. It was surprising because I have never associated them with mental illnesses. For example, the medical and surgical history of a patient may seem to have no link with a patient’s mental health. However, I have come to understand that some medical procedures may be risk factors for developing mental health illnesses such as depression. According to Nichol et al. (2021), medical history provides information on medical issues that may have residual effects on a person’s health. Family history may also seem irrelevant, but it helps to identify the mental health issues that the patient is more likely to develop, given their family history. For example, a patient with a family history of bipolar has a high likelihood of developing the illness (Carvalho et al., 2020). Making the connection between each area of the assessment is the basis of accurate diagnosis.
Crisis management is an essential part of the patient assessment to determine suicidality as it helps the provider to clarify the patient’s problem. The patient expresses their emotions around the crisis and discusses their coping mechanisms. The therapist can encourage the patient to utilize the appropriate methods. The therapist brings the patient back to a safe and healthy place. Suicide risk is usually present in patients with severe mental illness.

References
Carvalho, A. F., Firth, J., & Vieta, E. (2020). Bipolar disorder. New England Journal of Medicine, 383(1), 58-66.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmra1906193
Nichol, J. R., Sundjaja, J. H., & Nelson, G. (2021). Medical History. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534249/
Voss, R., & Das, J. M. (2022). Mental status examination. StatPearls. https://www.statpearls.com/ArticleLibrary/viewarticle/24998