Description

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Mental Status Examination is for clinical students, interns, residents, and practicing professionals who want to painlessly perfect their evaluation skills. It explains DSM-5 and ICD-10 diagnostic and cognitive examinations validated in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatry Research, Biological Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, and Psychological Reports. Mental Status Examination then introduces you to 52 challenging, real-life patients who were given the same mental status examination. They tell you their stories as if you were their personal clinician and you diagnose their problems. You will learn from patients with Major Depressive Disorder; Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder; Bipolar I and II Disorders; Panic Disorder; Generalized Anxiety Disorder; Social Anxiety Disorder; Acute and Posttraumatic Stress Disorders; Schizophrenia; Substance Use Disorders, Intoxication, and Withdrawal from pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, street drugs, and supplements; Borderline Personality Disorder; Antisocial Personality Disorder; and Psychopathic Personalities. You will diagnose patients with Delusional Disorder, Sleep Terrors, Intellectual Disability, Catatonia, Trichotillomania, Conversion Disorder, and Formication, plus cultural and religious practices including suicide pacts, Santeria, folie deux, and coining. You will understand medical conditions masquerading as mental disorders including aphasias, drug side effects, brain trauma, stroke, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, multiple sclerosis, herpes zoster, Parkinsonism, epilepsy, and cancer. American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5) and World Health Organization (ICD-10) diagnostic criteria and codes are explained in detail. You receive a cognitive examination, model interview scripts and questionnaires for your patients to fill out in advance. Evaluation, treatment, and patient management tips are provided in each case. Every step of the diagnostic thinking process is explained, so that when you see a similar patient in the emergency room, hospital, clinic, private office, or forensic setting, you will know just what to do. Time is precious for clinicians-we care for our patients, meet with their families, attack mountains of paperwork, and complete the requirements of our ongoing education. Diagnostic skill is essential for our success. Let's get started now.

About the Author

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Wes Burgess, M.D., Ph.D. trained at Stanford University and taught at Stanford and UCLA Medical Schools and the University of California, Davis, Department of Psychology. He is the author of Mental Status Examination for Personality Disorders-a companion book that focuses on the evaluation and diagnosis of personality disorders, The Bipolar Handbook, and other books on Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Dr. Burgess also wrote Calm Your Mind, a book on relaxation techniques for your clients, and other books on stress reduction. He won the Purdue Literary Award, the Mead Johnson Award for Excellence in Writing, and the Southern California Psychiatric Association Award for his monthly column on diagnosis. Dr. Burgess consults for the Los Angeles Superior Courts and the California Bar Association, and appears as a psychiatric expert on National Public Radio, television, and films.