The diagnosis of mental health illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, can be challenging for healthcare professionals. Although the DSM-5 has specific criteria for making these diagnoses, no two cases are the same and each patient will present with a unique set of symptoms. The variable nature of mental illness…
Tag: Psychiatry
PGMEE, MRCS, USMLE, MBBS, MD/MS 
Definition of terms in Psychiatry
1. Speech: Ideas, thoughts, feelings expressed through language 2. Emotion: Complex phenomenon involving reactions in 3 different components: Feeling experienced by subject (joy, sadness, anger) Behavioral (expressive component) Autonomic and endocrine component 3. Affect: Objective outward expression of the immediate cross-section emotion at a given time 4. Mood: Sustained pervasive…
PGMEE, MRCS, USMLE, MBBS, MD/MS 
Personality Disorders – Mnemonic
If you are having a hard time remembering the clusters and which disorder falls into which cluster, this mnemonic will be helpful. Three clusters: A, B and C; remember as WWW – Weird, Wild and Worried, respectively. Cluster A – Weird (Genetic association with Schizophrenia) Accusatory: Paranoid (Suspicious) Aloof: Schizoid…
PGMEE, MRCS, USMLE, MBBS, MD/MS
Simplified ICD-10 Diagnostic criteria for Schizophrenia
1. Duration: ≥1 months 2. ≥1 of Schneider’s 1st rank symptoms: Mnemonic: ABCDE a. Auditory hallucinations: Voices heard arguing (3rd person), Thought echo, Running commentary b. Bizzare delusions: Voices coming from some part of the body c. Control (Delusion of control): Somatic, Impulse, Volition, Affect (SIVA) d. Delusional perception: A non-hallucinated/true perception…
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Musician and Suicide – The science behind
Suicide is death resulting from an intentional, self-inflicted act, with evidence (either explicit, such as a note that clearly communicates the person’s expectation of death, or implicit, such as the mode of death, as when a person is found hanging in their locked home) that the person intended to die…
Clinical Skills and Approaches 
Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE): Mnemonic
ORARL, 5-3-5-3-9 1. Orientation: Time (5 points – 1 for each correct): What is the: (year) (season) (date) (day) (month)? Place (5 points – 1 for each correct): Where are we: (state) (county) (town) (hospital) (floor)? 2. Registration: Name three objects, ask patient to repeat (3 points – 1 for each on first…
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How to talk to your kids about drugs ?
Many communities around the country are faced with the reality that an alarming number of young people are trying tobacco, alcohol and other dangerous drugs. Many others are using them regularly. The numbers can be startling. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that by the 8th grade, 30% of…
PGMEE, MRCS, USMLE, MBBS, MD/MS 
Antidepressants Made Easy
Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCA) Mnemonic: -pramine, -triptyline, -pin Secondary amines: predominantly norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors Nor-triptyline Desi-pramine Tertiary amines: Ami-triptyline Imi-pramine Clomi-pramine Doxe-pin Irreversible MAO Inhibitors Mnemonic: TIPS Non-selective MAO inhibitors: Tranylcypromine Isocarboxazid Phenelzine Selective MAO-B inhibitor: Selegiline (transdermal patch) Reversible Inhibitor of MAO-A (RIMA) Moclobemide Tolaxatone Tetracyclic Antidepressants Nonselective inhibitor of…