Psychiatric Assessment and Diagnosis Flashcards

A patient describes recurrent, intrusive thoughts of contamination that they neutralize by repeated handwashing. Which diagnosis is most consistent?

Answer: Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Intrusive obsessions paired with compensatory compulsions define OCD.

For a diagnosis of PTSD, the characteristic symptoms must persist for more than:

Answer: 1 month

PTSD requires symptom duration greater than 1 month; shorter durations suggest acute stress disorder.

A patient repeats the interviewer's questions verbatim instead of answering. This speech abnormality is called:

Answer: Echolalia

Echolalia is the pathological repetition of another person's words.

Which personality disorder is characterized by unstable relationships, impulsivity, identity disturbance, and fear of abandonment?

Answer: Borderline

Borderline personality disorder features affective instability, impulsivity, and frantic efforts to avoid abandonment.

A structured tool used specifically to assess obsessive-compulsive symptom severity is the:

Answer: Y-BOCS

The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) rates OCD symptom severity.

When a patient can state the correct date, place, and who they are, the clinician documents that the patient is:

Answer: Oriented to person, place, and time

Correctly identifying person, place, and time indicates full orientation on the MSE.

Which finding on assessment most strongly suggests malingering rather than a genuine psychiatric disorder?

Answer: Marked discrepancy between reported distress and objective findings, with external incentive

Malingering is suggested by inconsistency between claimed and observed impairment in the context of clear external gain.