The Mental Status Examination in Neurology » (4th Edition)

Richard L. Strub, MD, Chairman, Department of Neurology, Ochsner Clinic; Clinical Professor of Neurology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
F. William Black, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology; Director, Neuropsychology Laboratory, Tulane University Medical Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

This time-honored classic will prepare you to use a standardized mental status exam to diagnose organic brain disease and describe relative levels of functioning; and assess your patient's mental status quickly and compare test scores with age-related norms to eliminate the need for more expensive tests.

Daniel B. Hier

This is a brief and concise introduction to the mental status examination in neurology. This book seeks to teach the elements of the mental status examination and the neuroanatomic and neuropsychological significance of abnormal findings. This book is directed to medical students doing a neurology clerkship, neurology and psychiatry residents, and practicing neurologists who wish to review the mental status examination. The book consists of 11 chapters, two appendixes, and an index. Separate chapters review assessment of level of consciousness, attention, language, memory, constructional ability, and higher cortical functions. One appendix reviews standard neuropsychological tests, and the other provides a model form for recording the mental status examination. This book is now in third edition. It is concise, well-written, and to the point. It remains a useful introduction to the mental status examination. It is highly readable and should retain its large audience among medical students and neurology residents. The book is very traditional in its approach to the mental status examination and thus will be most useful to neurologists and future neurologists. Advances in neuroimaging and neuropsychology are not extensively discussed in this book. The book wisely avoids the controversies and complexities that currently envelop much of neuropsychology and behavioral neurology. However, those who wish more detail will need to delve into more comprehensive texts.