The Evolution of the Mental Status—Past and Future

There is a need in psychiatry for a system of recording objective observations that are both clinically accurate and conducive to statistical analysis and comparison. The absence of such a system has traditionally served to discourage communication between psychiatry and the natural sciences as well as to hinder it within the profession itself. In an ongoing program at the Institute of Living designed to resolve this problem, data processing techniques have been designed to fit the requirements of psychiatric record-keeping. The most recent addition is the automated mental status examination, which the authors describe here.