Systematic recording of case history in-detail in the form of interviewing both the client and his/her family members or caregivers separately. This process is aimed at collecting all the necessary details of the client including his/her birth history, childhood history, significant incidents having impacts on him/her, family environment, student life, occupational history, marital life & quality of marriage, children & their relationships with the client, his/ her social life, recent significant incident (if any) etc. Case history also includes the detailed description of current psychological distress mentioning changes in behaviour whether abruptly or gradually over time and the patient’s premorbid personality (personality before the distress). A good case history taken by a professional can help to reach a diagnosis in a most scientific way.

MSE is a structured assessment or general observation of the client’s detailed behavioural and cognitive functioning during a psychological testing session. It includes precise observation and description of the client’s appearance & general behaviour, touch with the surroundings, attitude, level of consciousness, attentiveness, motor activity, manner of speech, mood & affect, thought & perception, insight & judgment, and the current status of higher cognitive abilities (including intelligence). These observations are required to tally with the client’s symptom manifestation as mentioned in the case history (by family members or caregivers) so that Psychologist can really understand the true nature of the illness. The MSE also allows the Psychologist to select the type of psychological testing for reaching a definite diagnosis.

For providing any kind of support to a person with mental issues, a definite diagnosis is required. The diagnosis helps to understand the severity of illness with the underlying pathology behind and the types of treatments required. A standardized psychological test is a task or a set of tasks under set conditions given to the client to measure his/ her standing in comparison to the norms (which are set by detailed research and standardization by each of the popularly used tests). The variety of tests are designed to assess the person’s different psychological aspects like intelligence, personality type, structure and function of thought processes, underlying conflicts, anxieties and fears. It is also aimed at finding the levels of depression, anxiety, phobia and other psychotic conditions and disorders.