It is the fact that mental health assessment is an important and basic step of treatment. You can not prescribe appropriate treatment without accurate assessment. It helps your doctor to know how well you feel emotionally, and how well you remember, think and reason. This process might include interviews and written tests. Sometimes it includes lab test such as blood or urine test.

 During this process your doctor studies your behavior, mood, thinking reasoning etc. Some researches have proved that the five out of ten leading causes of disability in the world is mental health illness. They are normally due to depression, alcohol use, manic-depressive illness, self-inflicted injuries and schizophrenia.

 Several people do not have a clear understanding about the cause and nature of mental illness. Some believe that these illnesses are the disease of soul and spirit, whereas some of them believe that it is due to the disorder process in the brain.

 The purposes of mental health assessment: 

• To find out and check the mental health problems like, anorexia nervosa, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, anxiety and schizophrenia.
• To evaluate a person who has been referred for psychiatric treatment due to the problem from different environments like school, home. Work. etc.
• Study the difference between physical and psychiatric problem.
• To study the mental health of a person who has been arrested for a crime or placed in an institution.

 Methods of conducting mental health assessments:

 The mental health of person can be evaluated with certain types of procedures. They are as follows.

 Interview:

In this method, your doctor tries to understand your behavior, your mood types and fluctuation. Your doctor might ask you a few questions which could even sound very insignificant. He might ask you things like,” how do you tie your shoelaces?” or you might even question you about how you stand on your feet or about how you maintain the environment around you. The information which you provide will help the doctor to assess your mental health accurately.

 2. Physical exam:

 In order to make a thorough analysis about your mental health, your physician might even put you through a complete physical test which is very essential for your overall assessment. They will even study about your past medical history, your health condition and the health condition of your family members. They will provide you with a prescription for treatment after testing your balance and reflexes, and even the senses like taste hearing, smell sight and touch.

 3. Lab test:

 Sometimes the doctors ask you to get your blood and urine samples tested in the laboratories if they suspect issues with your nervous system. The laboratory tests may includes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography (CT), electroencephalogram (EEG), your electrolyte levels test, thyroid function test or toxicology screening.

 4. Written or verbal testes:

 The mental health assessment also includes some verbal or written testes. Generally the questionnaire consists of about 25 questions which you will need to answer. Usually they are yes or no type questions and you can answer them verbally or write down your answer.

 Preparation for mental health assessment:

 As a matter of facts it is not very easy to find out the causes of these symptoms because some of the mental health problems are technically hard to diagnose. Therefore, you’ll need to furnish each and everything which your doctor asks for.

 Here are some tips for mental health assessment: 

• If you can find any symptoms of mental health illness and if you decide to go for treatment, you’ll need to keep a dairy or a record for a few days before the appointment.
• It would be wise if you could have your friend or close relative accompany you to the doctor because sometimes they can read your symptoms better than you.
• You need to tell your doctor all about the prescribed and non prescribed drugs which you take. This is because some medicine can cause changes your mental health. You’ll also need to mention about the tests which you might have already undergone.

 The modern psychiatry views the mental illness as a combination of genetic, biological, social and cultural effects. These days, the mental health assessments are being conducted on the basis of these four aspects.

Mental Health – The Important Of Assessment is a post from: Mental Health