Explain medical work-up for new psychosis to a worried partner — CASC communication station

Station brief

Format. Communication station, approximately 7–10 minutes after reading. You are the psychiatry registrar on the assessment unit.^[1]

Candidate instructions. Explain why medical tests are needed for a first presentation of psychosis at age 49, what bloods and possible imaging mean, that the diagnosis may be primary or secondary to a medical condition, outline treatment principles (treat medical problems; low-dose medicine for symptoms if needed), and check understanding. Do not give false lifelong fatalism or false total reassurance.^[2][3]