Mental State Examination for Substance Abuse and Delusions

Running head: MENTAL STATE EXAMINATION
MENTAL STATE EXAMINATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1MENTAL STATE EXAMINATION
MENTAL STATE EXAMINATION
General appearance The general appearance of the patient was normal, and he looked
properly dressed. However, the patient did not had any interest in his
appearance as it was observed that he did not brush his hair and was least
interested hoisin making his outer appearance appealing and appropriate
for social interaction.
Behavior It was observed in the scenario that the patient failed to make or avoided
eye-contact with the health professional. He was not concerned about the
ongoing conversation and from his behavior and actions, it was clearly
visible that the patient was preoccupied with other thoughts. His speech
was fragmented with long pauses and a lack of focus. He also displayed
signs of anxiety with inappropriate and uncomfortable sitting posture in
this clinical scenario. The patient was evidently anxious to leave the
interview session.
Speech The patient was speaking in a monotonous tone and did not utilise any
proper speech patterns while talking with rapid and fragmented speech
evident. Replies to questions were typically short; only 2 or 3 sentences.
At times, the conversation seemed forced, with the patient’s utterances
seeming irrelevant the question being aksed
Mood and affect Harry accepted the fact that he felt happy whenever he was invisible to
the people around and also seemed to reject the people who were
planning to improve his health condition. However, while determining
the thoughts and actions of people as per the case study, it should be said
that to the patient’s belief in his superpower of invisibility did not affect
his mood during the interview.
Thought process The patient had several thoughts of superpowers and presented all these
details in less coherent speech and manner. In addition, as the patient was
thinking about too many aspects in his mind, he was unable to think
logically.
Thought content The thought content of the patient was involved with no suicidal ideation

2MENTAL STATE EXAMINATION
and no hallucination related effects being observed. However, the patient
had overvalued thought content as he displayed thought patterns related
to superhuman capabilities and paranoia. Furthermore, he expressed
homicidal ideation as he admitted that he could kill his brother as he
interfered with his superpower.
Perception The perception of the patient includes derealisation and illusion. The
patient accepted as fact that he has supernatural powers which other
people are not aware of. In addition, he also thought that the superpowers
helped him go invisible anytime and that he will be able to live alone and
invisible most of the time. These perceptions about the world, universe
and life indicated that the patient was living in an alternative world.
Cognition The cognition level of the patient was degrading as he lacked the
concentration and was preloaded with his superpower and delusion
related thoughts. During the interview, the patient accepted the fact that
he does not think school is an important part of his life as he is invisible.
The interviewer had to probe the patient with specific questions so that
they could provide his thoughts. However, by answering the proper date,
time and purpose of the interview, it was evident that the patient still has
some ties to reality.
Judgement When the interviewer asked the patient about his aggression and its
reason, the patient mentioned the name of his brother and said that he
wanted to kill him and was developing an action plan to harm his brother.
He did not want anybody to prevent him from being invisible and hence
he planned this actions.
Insight After going through all the responses of the patients, it should be
mentioned that the patient is likely suffering from acute substance abuse
related syndrome and is the victim of excessive drug use. The diseases he
could develop are: substance-induced mood disorder, substance-induced
psychotic disorder and substance-induced sleep disorder and substance-
induced sexual dysfunction. Therefore, proper healthcare interventions
related to mental illness should be implemented on Harry to prevent any