Sense Perception and Its Disorders

Assessing sense perception in the context of the mental status examination involves the ruling out of negative disorders of perception, followed by an exploration of positive disorders of perception. Positive disorders of perception are divided into 3 main groups, comprising hallucinations, illusions, and sensory distortions. Of these, illusions tend to have little clinical relevance (save for a few notable exceptions) whereas hallucinations and sensory distortions come in many subtypes that often do have diagnostic implications. A successful execution of this part of the mental status examination hinges on acquaintance with the perceptual phenomena here reviewed.