Question 2: History taking
History taking from a patient facilitates a comprehensive view of the patient, and a timeline of when neuropsychological symptoms occurred. Answers about the patient’s history and their problems in response to questions asked by the examiner will provide much of the needed information that is required to make an elaborative assessment ((Lezak, Howieson, Bigler & Tranel, 2012). However, considering the severity of the patient’s disease, potential language impairment, lack of alertness, and/or memory, some information about their life can be obtained from other sources, like cognitive functioning records, hospital records or personnel working with the patient, or from family, friends, and employers (Lezak et al., 2012). This may help identify symptoms the person is not aware of and clarify the time course of their symptoms. A broad range of data about the patient will not guarantee accurate judgments, but will help to identify the factors surrounding onset of certain symptoms, and with the process of developing hypotheses. …show more content…
Potential questions asked about social history to the patient could be:
- Did you go to a well-facilitated school?
- How would you your overall academic achievement out of ten?
- What were your hobbies or activities you enjoyed doing during your childhood and adolescence?
- Were there ever times whilst at school, university, or work, where you had difficulty remembering things, more than usual?
- Were you able to find a job in a career that you were passionate about?
- If so, have there been any changes in how often you forget things over the