Medical and Psychiatric History

Taking a good medical/psychiatric history is an essential first step in appropriately triaging and ultimately diagnosing a patient presenting with a behavioral emergency. Taking the information gathered during the initial interview along with physical exam findings can help to better differentiate primary psychiatric disorders from their medical mimics. The differential for behavioral emergencies is very broad and differs by each individual presentation. Using your interview to determine whether elements of the family history, medical history, social history, sexual history, medications, or environmental exposures are contributory factors to a patient’s presentation can be important in obtaining a good general picture. Often, collateral information obtained from friends, caregivers, and family can be key to elucidating the true cause of a behavioral complaint.