Psychiatry Assessment
Use when asked to administer, score, or explain a Psychiatry Assessment — comprehensive evaluation using the GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning) Scale with mental status exam, risk, and capacity — grounded in FormExamples/form-examples.
Comprehensive psychiatric evaluation using the GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning) Scale, with mental status examination, risk assessment, and capacity evaluation.
Scoring
Instrument: GAF Scale. Range 1–100, from 91–100 (superior functioning) down through progressively greater symptom/impairment bands to 1–10 (persistent danger).
What it covers
Demographics; presenting complaint; psychiatric history; mental status exam; risk assessment; mood and anxiety; substance use; current medications; medical history; social history; and capacity and consent.
Common pitfalls
- Treating GAF as capturing symptoms and functioning as one number — a single GAF score can obscure very different clinical pictures (severe symptoms with preserved functioning, or vice versa); the full mental status exam and history remain necessary alongside it.
- Skipping capacity assessment as a routine checkbox — capacity is decision-specific and must be assessed for the actual decision at hand, not assumed from the overall psychiatric presentation.
- Under-eliciting substance use — substance use is often underreported unless asked about directly and non-judgementally, and materially affects both risk assessment and diagnosis.
Learn more
- FormExamples: psychiatry-assessment for the full implementation, clinical references, and worked examples.
- Mental Health Act Assessment for the related legal/procedural detention assessment.
- Psychology Assessment, Mental Health Assessment for related mental-health assessments.