In psychiatry, in comparison with other clinical disciplines, the method for observation of patients with mental diseases has its specifics. Clarifying complaints, checking history (life history and medical record) is the common method for all medical occupations, but the process of interview with a patient, observing their behaviour, exposure of their thoughts are of peculiar, exclusive importance for deciphering their mental status, the mental state of the patient. To make the exact diagnosis, it is also necessary to examine carefully the patient's somatic, neurological conditions, to have data from the laboratory (clinical and biochemical ones), electroencephalographic, psychological studies; it is necessary to examine patients with CT, MRI, positron emission tomography, functional CT, etc.
In some cases, one should have craniography, the examination of cerebrospinal fluid, hormones blood level indices, adrenaline and serotonin level indices. A psychological study is required for many patients. Recently, diagnostic scales are used more and more actively for quantified assessment of depression, manias, cognitive functions, the intensity of instincts, memory pathology, etc.
PAST HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF A MENTAL STATUS IS THE BASIS OF PRESENTATION OF A MEDICAL RECORD
The most important components of a psychiatric medical record are history data, description of the mental status, which gives us a possibility to make the diagnosis, the choice of treatment method; the latter is individual for each patient.
A history (anamnesis) is the set of data about the patient; it is received via an interview with the patient (their survey) as well as people who know them good.
The term "anamnesis" (from the Greek word "anamnesis" - "reminiscence") means an interview with a patient (subjective anamnesis),