--- title: "Mental Status Examination (MSE): Format, Template & Example" url: "https://www.ellomind.com/ai-tools-for-psychologists/mental-status-examination/" description: "A clinician's guide to the mental status examination (MSE): the standard domains, how to write one, common descriptive terms, and a free MSE template to download. India-first, built by clinicians." --- Clinical guide # Mental status examination (MSE) The mental status examination is a structured description of a person's mental state at the time of assessment. This guide covers the standard domains, how to write one, the descriptive terms clinicians use, and a free template you can download. Download MSE template [Draft an MSE with AI](/ai-tools-for-psychologists/mse-note-writer/) ## What the MSE is The MSE is to mental health what the physical examination is to general medicine: a systematic snapshot of how a person looks, speaks, thinks, feels and reasons right now. It is descriptive, not diagnostic. A good MSE lets another clinician picture the person clearly and see what has changed since the last review. It is usually recorded after a clinical interview, drawing on both what you observe and what the person tells you. Keep it concise and behavioural, and record any risk exactly as stated. ## The standard MSE domains | Domain | What to note | | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Appearance and behaviour | Grooming, dress, hygiene, physical state, eye contact, psychomotor activity, level of cooperation and rapport. e.g. well-groomed, dishevelled, good eye contact, restless, psychomotor retardation, cooperative, guarded | | Speech | Rate, rhythm, volume, tone, quantity and spontaneity, not the content. e.g. normal rate and volume, pressured, slow, soft, monotonous, spontaneous, minimal | | Mood | The client's own description of their sustained emotional state, ideally in their words. e.g. “low”, “anxious”, “fine”, “angry”, euthymic (reported) | | Affect | The emotional state you observe: range, intensity, reactivity, congruence with mood and content. e.g. euthymic, blunted, flat, restricted, labile, congruent, reactive, incongruent | | Thought form (process) | How thoughts are organised and connected, from the flow of speech. e.g. linear and goal-directed, circumstantial, tangential, flight of ideas, loosening of associations | | Thought content | What the person is thinking about, including any risk. Record risk exactly as stated. e.g. no abnormal content, preoccupations, obsessions, delusions, overvalued ideas, suicidal or homicidal ideation | | Perception | Disturbances such as hallucinations, illusions, or depersonalisation and derealisation. e.g. no perceptual disturbance, auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, illusions, derealisation | | Cognition | Level of consciousness, orientation, attention and concentration, and memory. Use a formal screen where needed. e.g. alert, oriented to time, place and person, attention intact, memory grossly intact | | Insight | The person's awareness of their difficulties and of the need for help. e.g. good, partial, limited, absent | | Judgement | Their capacity to make reasoned decisions, in daily life and in the current situation. e.g. intact, impaired, poor | ## How to write an MSE 1. 1 Observe from the first moment: appearance, behaviour and speech are recorded from how the person presents, not from questions. 2. 2 Ask about mood in the person's own words, then note the affect you observe and whether it fits the mood and content. 3. 3 Follow the flow of thought (form), then what they think about (content), always recording any risk exactly as stated. 4. 4 Check perception and cognition, using a formal screen such as the MMSE or MoCA where cognition is a question. 5. 5 Close with insight and judgement, then review the whole MSE before it enters the record. ## Free MSE template A blank scaffold with every domain, ready to fill in. Download it to keep, or draft a full MSE from your de-identified observations with the AI MSE note writer. \*\*Appearance and behaviour:\*\* \*\*Speech:\*\* \*\*Mood (client's words):\*\* \*\*Affect:\*\* \*\*Thought form (process):\*\* \*\*Thought content (incl. risk):\*\* \*\*Perception:\*\* \*\*Cognition (consciousness, orientation, attention, memory):\*\* \*\*Insight:\*\* \*\*Judgement:\*\* Download MSE template (.md) [Draft an MSE with AI](/ai-tools-for-psychologists/mse-note-writer/) ## MSE vs MMSE The two are often confused. The **mental status examination (MSE)** is the broad, structured description of the whole mental state described above. The **Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)** is a short, 30-point screening test of cognition only. The MMSE, or an alternative such as the MoCA, can sit inside the cognition section of a full MSE. [Read the MMSE overview](/ai-tools-for-psychologists/tests/mmse/). ## Frequently asked questions What is a mental status examination? + A structured description of a person's mental state at the time of assessment, across appearance and behaviour, speech, mood, affect, thought form and content, perception, cognition, insight and judgement. It is the mental-health equivalent of a physical examination. What is the difference between the MSE and the MMSE? + The MSE is a broad, structured observation of the whole mental state. The MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination) is a short 30-point test of cognition only, which can form part of the cognition section of an MSE. What are the components of the MSE? + The standard domains are appearance and behaviour, speech, mood, affect, thought form, thought content (including risk), perception, cognition, insight and judgement. Do you have an MSE template I can use? + Yes. You can download a blank MSE template from this page, and use the free AI MSE note writer to structure your de-identified observations into a full MSE. This guide is educational information for professionals, not clinical or legal advice. An MSE is a scaffold for your own assessment, not a diagnosis. Never paste identifiable client data into a general AI assistant. If a client is in crisis, contact a [crisis helpline](/crisis-helpline/) right away. [Back to all tools](/ai-tools-for-psychologists/)