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For many years, the contents of the 'mental status' have been organized and recorded in terms of descriptive Kraepelinian psychiatry. The focus of attention has been placed not on the patient but on his mental 'faculties'—comprehension, perception, etc. Neither psychobiological nor psychoanalytic theory have had very much effect on the form of examination protocols used in most places. Menninger proposes an outline that will do greater justice to modern dynamic concepts. For example, under the heading 'Relations to self', the anamnesis would note qualities of the superego such as the predominant model if known (father, aunt, brother, etc.) and characteristic type of placation required (penance or penitence, suffering, bribing, etc.). 'Relations to others' would include transference as in the question, 'In what characteristic way does the patient relate himself to the examiner over and beyond the reality determinants?'.
Menninger presents his outline with a minimum of theoretical explanation, reserving the latter for discussion in a forthcoming book. Stress is placed on a clear distinction among facts, documented references, and logical conjectures.