What is a Mental Health Assessment
Understanding the state of our mental health and wellness is just as important as having a regular health check up with your family doctor. A mental health assessment is made up of a series of questions that are designed to give a licenced therapist or doctor a clear picture of how you are feeling psychologically, socially and emotionally. In addition, a mental health assessment also examines cognitive performance; it measures how well you are able to think, reason, or remember details.
In one-on-one interviews, a health care provider will be considering other signs of health and wellness such as how well you look physically (your appearance), how you express yourself verbally and nonverbally (mood and behaviour), and how you reason and make decisions. Questions may also explore the health of your personal relationships, including how you interact and get along with family, friends, colleagues and other people.
What is the purpose of a Mental Health Assessment
A mental health assessment helps to reveal the mental and physical health problems of an individual at various stages in life, from childhood through late adulthood.
They can uncover issues such as:
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Anxiety
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Depression
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Anger
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Stress
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Learning disabilities
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Disorders (i.e. Bipolar, ADHD, Eating, etc.)
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Nervous system diseases
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Other health problems (i.e. thyroid disease, brain tumours, etc.)
With this in mind, a mental health assessment helps health care professionals efficiently identify, diagnose and treat a range of conditions.
For individuals, we like to think of this as the first step in the process of achieving optimal health. For organizations, it’s a terrific measure for understanding the performance and overall wellbeing of a workforce.
Get Started with a Simple Screening
There are several types of screening tools available for individuals to take that are designed to evaluate specific conditions such as Anxiety, Depression, Gaming or Gambling Disorder.
Screening tools are a great first step towards learning more about the assessment process and a quick way to check in on your mental health.
