• Chief complaints • Past psychiatric issues / treatments • Medication, drug and supplement use • Medical disorders that may affect mental health • Cultural and religious beliefs  

• Appearance • Demeanor and overall attitude • Extraordinary or unusual behavior • Differences between body language and mood • Orientation to time, place and person • Confusion or disorientation • Attention span • Ability to recall events • Intellectual functioning • Speech characteristics that indicate altered thought processes • Insight • Coping and defense mechanisms • Self-destructive behavior • Psychological and mental status test results

• Thought processes – derailment, flight of ideas, neologisms, confabulation, clanging, echolalia or incoherence • Thought content – obsessions, compulsions, phobia, depersonalization, delusions, poverty of content • Perceptions – illusions, hallucinations