ASWB Exam Prep: The Mental Status Examination

Let's see how well you know  your way around the Mental Status Examination (MSE). First, here's what an MSE is:

The Mental Status Exam is analogous to the physical exam: it is a series of observations and examinations at one point in time. Focused questions and observations can reveal "normal" or pathological findings. Although our observations occur in the context of an interview and may therefore be ordered differently for each patient, the report of our findings is ordered and "paints a picture" of a patient's appearance, thinking, emotion and cognition.

 Simple enough. There are some tricky details and vocabulary within the MSE that may show up on the ASWB exam. Taking this quiz should get you all-the-more ready for MSE questions on the social work licensing exam.

1. What characteristic might be described by one of these: Hesitant, expansive, rambling, halting, stuttering, lilting, jerky, forgetful. 

2. What are auditory, visual, and olfactory hallucinations?

3. What is an overvalued idea.

4. Define flight of ideas.

5. What is alexithymia?

Have answers? Are the right ones? Answer key below--scroll down...

Bonus concepts: echopraxia, catalepsy, waxy flexibility and paratonia -- click through for definitions.

Remember, the real ASWB exam doesn't quiz like this. Questions tend to be longer form vignettes. Try practice tests like those from SWTP to prepare for the full-length, 170-question ASWB exam. Generally, the more practice, the readier you'll be.

Good luck!






















Definitions via Wikipedia.

1. Flow of speech.

2. Auditory hallucinations involve hearing (e.g., voices); visual involve seeing (e.g., shadows); olfactory involve smelling (e.g., something burning or rotten).

3. An overvalued idea is an emotionally charged belief that may be held with sufficient conviction to make believer emotionally charged or aggressive but that fails to possess all three characteristics of delusion—most importantly, incongruity with cultural norms.

4. Flight of ideas describes excessive speech at a rapid rate that involves causal association between ideas. Links between ideas may involve usage of puns or rhymes. It is typical of mania, classically seen in bipolar disorder.

5. Alexithymic individuals may be unable to describe their subjective mood state.