Mental Status Schedule

THE Mental Status Schedule (MSS) is an instrument designed to improve the research value of clinical judgments of current psychopathology based on data collected during a psychiatric interview. It is intended primarily for use with psychiatric patients, but it can also be used with nonpatients living in the community. It focuses upon signs and symptoms associated with neurotic, Psychotic, and organic brain disorders. The latest version of the MSS, designated Form A, is currently being used in a number of projects involving such varied problems as the research evaluation of treatment, case finding, routine admission assessment, and the phenomenology of mental disorders. Its advantages over other commonly used assessment procedures are: the incorporation of a standardized interview schedule to reduce inconsistency and oversight due to variability in interviewing techniques and coverage of psychopathology; the use of a score sheet which serves simultaneously as a