Key Areas of Assessment
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✅ Mood (Self-Reported): Neutral, sad, anxious, irritable, euphoric.
💡 Self-reported mood offers insight into the client’s internal emotional state and personal experience. -
✅ Affect (Observed Emotion): Blunted, flat, labile, inappropriate.
💡 Observed affect provides objective clues on how emotions are externally expressed, highlighting any discrepancies. -
✅ Congruency: Is mood and affect aligned or mismatched?
💡 Assessing congruency helps determine if the client’s internal feelings match their external expressions. -
✅ Emotional Range: Full, restricted, heightened.
💡 Evaluating emotional range reveals the variety and intensity of feelings, indicating flexibility or restriction in affect. -
✅ Fluctuation: Mood stability vs. rapid shifts (mood swings, emotional lability).
💡 Understanding mood fluctuation is important for identifying stability or rapid shifts that could signal mood disorders. -
✅ Distress Indicators: Tearfulness, agitation, withdrawal, lack of motivation.
💡 Noticing signs of distress helps pinpoint areas of emotional pain and guides the need for supportive interventions. -
✅ Suicidal & Self-Harm Risk: Presence of thoughts, intent, plan, protective factors.
💡 Evaluating suicidal and self-harm risk is critical for immediate safety planning and crisis intervention. -
✅ Anxiety Symptoms: Excessive worry, panic, restlessness, somatic complaints.
💡 Identifying anxiety symptoms aids in assessing the severity of anxiety and informs targeted interventions. -
✅ Depressive Symptoms: Fatigue, low energy, loss of interest, feelings of hopelessness.
💡 Recognizing depressive symptoms provides essential information for addressing low mood and diminished motivation. -
✅ Psychotic Features: Hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, thought disturbances.
💡 Monitoring psychotic features is vital for early intervention in severe mental health conditions.
Assessment Prompts & Questions
- “How have your emotions been over the past week?”
- “Have you noticed any changes in your mood, energy, or motivation?”
- “Do you feel your mood is stable, or does it shift frequently?”
- “Do you ever feel overwhelmed with sadness, worry, or irritability?”
- “Have you had any thoughts of harming yourself or others?”
- “Do you hear or see things that others don’t?”
- “How well are you sleeping? Do you feel rested?”
- “Are you able to concentrate and focus on daily tasks?”
Risk Assessment & Crisis Indicators
🚨 High-Risk Indicators:
- Active suicidal ideation with a plan and intent.
- Expressed hopelessness or feeling of being a burden.
- Command hallucinations instructing self-harm or violence.
- Severe agitation, panic, or dissociation impairing functioning.
🛑 Crisis Response Steps:
- Immediate safety planning with the client.
- Emergency referral or escalation (GP, crisis team, A&E, safeguarding).
- Engagement with support networks (family, peer support, professionals).
- Discuss coping strategies: grounding techniques, self-soothing, structured routine.