---
name: psychiatry-assessment
description: 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.
---

# Psychiatry Assessment

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](https://github.com/FormExamples/form-examples/tree/main/forms/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.