A mental status test is given to help determine the state of a person’s mental health. In this case, it is pretty helpful to seniors who are patient’s of Alzheimer’s disease. This will help professionals in gauging the mental progression of the disease.

The following are what comprises in a mental status test according to the United States National Library of Medicine:

1. Checking the physical appearance including the way patients dress and groom themselves.
2. Checking the patients’ orientation and awareness. They check if they know their address, complete name and phone number, current date and the current season of the year.
3. Checking the length of attention span, the short-term and the long-term memory.
4. Determines the patients’ abilities which may include problem solving skills and judgments.
5. Checking the patients’ ability to distinguish and identify objects and recall words.