Mental health screening, or a mental health examination (MSE), is a series of assessments and observations that a health professional uses to evaluate your behavior. Mental health screening may include a physical exam, a psychiatric interview, laboratory tests (such as blood and urine tests), and specific mental health screening tests.

During a mental health screening, a health professional will evaluate your:

• Appearance and behavior.
• Mood (affect).
• Memory and thinking (cognition). This includes attention, concentration, level of consciousness, comprehension, and your ability to understand abstract ideas.
• Thought processes and content. The health professional will evaluate your awareness of your surroundings (this is called orientation) and will determine whether you have an accurate understanding of time, place (where you are), and person (who you are). You will be asked whether you have had any suicidal thoughts, thoughts of hurting others, or strange and unreal thoughts (psychotic thoughts), like hearing voices others don't hear or seeing things others don't see.
• Ability to express yourself, by assessing your body posture, eye contact, and verbal expression.
• Physical functioning, by evaluating areas such as sleep, appetite, or physical symptoms.
• Insight and judgment.
• Relationships. The health professional will evaluate your ability to relate to others and will assess the status of your present relationships.

Mental Health Screening
Results

Your health professional may discuss preliminary results of the mental health screening with you right after the test. Complete results, including lab tests (if done), are usually available in several days.

The American Psychiatric Association organizes mental health disorders into more than two dozen categories and more than 100 subcategories, each with its own symptoms and diagnosis. These categories include:

• Anxiety disorders, such as extreme and irrational fears that interfere with daily life (phobias), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder.
• Schizophrenia.
• Developmental disorders, including learning disabilities, mental retardation, and autism.
• Disruptive behavior disorders, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder.
• Substance abuse, including alcoholism and drug dependence.
• Delusional disorders, such as delusional or paranoid behavior.
• Sexual disorders, such as erectile dysfunction.
• Sleep disorders, including sleep apnea or narcolepsy.
• Impulse control disorders, such as kleptomania or pyromania.
• Dissociative disorders, such as multiple-personality disorders.
• Eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
• Neurologic disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy.

If the mental health screening shows a problem, further testing and evaluation may be necessary.

Treatment will be based on the particular diagnosis, and it may include one or more types of therapy, such as psychotherapy or medications.