Mind & Being Links

Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE)

The MMSE is a screening test for mental capacity.

It can be a bit awkard to ask such basic questions. One way of introducing it is to talk generally about world events, then say:

"we often ask questions about people's interest in what's going on around you, and I'd like to ask you about them. Some of them are a bit basic, I know, but they get more interesting as we go along..."

Orientation (one point each)

what is the year?
season?
date?
month?
day?
country?
province?
city?
street/building?
street#/hospital floor?

Recall (one point each)

name three objects, then get them repeated back right away (three points)
what were those three objects (three points, a few minutes later)

Attention/Concentration

spell 'WORLD' backwards, or do serial 7's back from 100

Registration

could you tell me what this is?
could you tell me what this is?

Commands

listen and repeat after me, "no ifs, ands, or buts"
listen carefully and do as I say (give all three commands at once):
- take the sheet with your (nondominant) hand
- fold it in half
- put it on the floor
read this and do what it says: "CLOSE YOUR EYES"
write a complete sentence on this piece of paper

Visuo-Spatial

copy this shape