Page 27 - SSB MED EBOOK

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

Relevant Personal History

Mental Illness. A candidate giving a history of mental illness/

psychological afflictions requires detailed investigation and

psychiatric referral. Such cases should normally be rejected. Most

often the history is not volunteered. The examiner should try to

elicit a history by direct questioning, which may or may not be

fruitful. Every examiner should form a general impression of the

candidate’s personality as a whole and may enquire into an

individual’s stability and habitual reactions to difficult and stressful

situations.

Insomnia, Nightmare, Sleepwalking or bed-wetting. History of

insomnia, nightmares or frequent sleepwalking, when recurrent or

persistent, will be a cause for rejection.

Severe or ‘throbbing’ Headache and Migraine. Common types of

recurrent headaches are those due to former head injury or

migraine. Other forms of occasional headache must be considered

in relation to their probable cause. A candidate with migraine,

which was severe enough to make him consult his doctor, should

normally be a cause for rejection. Even a single attack of migraine

with visual disturbance or ‘Migrainous epilepsy’ is a bar to

acceptance.