Psychiatric Nursing Practice Test 3 (Exam Mode)

Somatic delusions focus on bodily functions or systems and commonly include delusion about foul odor emissions, insect manifestations, internal parasites and misshapen parts.

Aged cheese and Chianti wine contain high concentrations of tyramine.

Phobias cause severe anxiety (such as panic attack) that is out of proportion to the threat of the feared object or situation. Physical signs and symptoms of phobias include profuse sweating, poor motor control, tachycardia and elevated B.P.

Art therapy provides a nonthreatening vehicle for the expression of feelings, and use of a small group will help the client become comfortable with
peers in a group setting. Basketball is a competitive game that requires energy; the client with major depression is not likely to participate in this activity.
Recommending that the client read a self-help book may increase, not decrease his isolation. Watching movie with a peer group does not guarantee that
interaction will occur; therefore, the client may remain isolated.

Disregard for established rules of society is the most common characteristic of a client with antisocial personality disorder. Attention to detail and order is characteristic of someone with obsessive compulsive disorder. Bizarre mannerisms and thoughts are characteristics of a client with schizoid or
schizotypal disorder. Submissive and dependent behaviors are characteristic of someone with a dependent personality.

Perceptual field is a key indicator of anxiety level because the perceptual fields narrow as anxiety increases.

The emergency nurse must establish rapport and trust with the anxious client before using therapeutic touch. Touching an anxious client may actually increase anxiety.

Day treatment programs provide clients with chronic, persistent mental illness training in social skills, such as meeting and greeting people, asking
questions or directions, placing an order in a restaurant, taking turns in a group setting activity. Although management of hallucinations and medication teaching may also be part of the program offered in a day treatment, the nurse is referring the client in this situation because of his need for socialization skills. Vocational training generally takes place in a rehabilitation facility; the client described in this situation would not be a candidate for this service.

Drinking alcohol can potentiate the sedating action of tricyclic antidepressants. Dry mouth and blurred vision are normal adverse effects of tricyclic antidepressants.

Cocaine is a chemical that when inhaled, causes destruction of the mucous membranes of the nose.

Whether there is a suicide plan is a criterion when assessing the client’s determination to make another attempt.

A client with borderline personality displays a pervasive pattern of unpredictable behavior, mood and self image. Interpersonal relationships may be intense and unstable and behavior may be inappropriate and impulsive.

ECT commonly causes transitory short and long term memory loss and confusion, especially in geriatric clients. It rarely results in permanent short and long term memory loss.

Anxiety is a response to a threat arising from internal or external stimuli.

The first are for assessment would be the client’s reason for refusing medication. The client may not understand the purpose for the medication, may be experiencing distressing side effects, or may be concerned about the cost of medicine. In any case, the nurse cannot provide appropriate intervention before assessing the client’s problem with the medication. The patient’s income level, living arrangements, and involvement of family and support systems are relevant issues following determination of the client’s reason for refusing medication. The nurse providing follow-up care would have access to the client’s medical record and should already know the reason for inpatient admission.

The most successful therapy for people with phobias involves behavior modification techniques using desensitization.

MAOI antidepressants when combined with a number of drugs can cause life-threatening hypertensive crisis. It’s imperative that a client checks with his physician and pharmacist before taking any other medications.

Panic is the most severe level of anxiety. During panic attack, the client experiences a decrease in the perceptual field, becoming more focused on self, less aware of surroundings and unable to process information from the environment. The decreased perceptual field contributes to impaired attention and inability to concentrate.

These children often have nonsexual needs met by individual and are powerless to refuse.Ambivalence results in self-blame and also guilt.

Diarrhea is a common physiological response to stress and anxiety.

In many instances, the nurse can diffuse impending violence by helping the client identify and express feelings of anger and anxiety. Such statement as “What happened to get you this angry?” may help the client verbalizes feelings rather than act on them.

The nurse should prepare a client for ECT in a manner similar to that for general anesthesia.

The best approach with a withdrawn client is to initiate brief, nondemanding activities on a one-to-one basis. This approach gives the nurse an opportunity to establish a trusting relationship with the client. A board game with a group clients or playing a team sport in the gym may overwhelm a severely withdrawn client. Watching TV is a solitary activity that will reinforce the client’s withdrawal from others.

Crisis intervention group helps client reestablish psychologic equilibrium by assisting them to explore new alternatives for coping. It considers realistic
situations using rational and flexible problem solving methods.

Excess dopamine is thought to be the chemical cause for psychotic thinking. The typical antipsychotics act to block dopamine receptors and therefore decrease the amount of neurotransmitter at the synapses. The typical antipsychotics do not increase acetylcholine, stabilize serotonin, stimulate GABA.

In autoimmune disorders, stress and the response to stress can exacerbate symptoms. Stress management techniques can help the client reduce the psychological response to stress, which in turn will help reduce the physiologic stress response. This will afford the client an increased sense of control over his symptoms. The nurse can address the remaining answer choices in her teaching about the client’s disease and treatment; however, knowledge alone will not help the client to manage his stress effectively enough to control symptoms.

Amantadine is an anticholinergic drug used to relive drug-induced extra pyramidal adverse effects such as muscle weakness, involuntary muscle
movements, pseudoparkinsonism and tar dive dyskinesia.

A client with antisocial personality disorder typically has frequent episodes of acting impulsively with poor ability to delay self-gratification. Therefore, decreased frequency of impulsive behaviors would be evidence of improvement. Charming behavior when around authority figures and statements indicating no
remorse are examples of symptoms typical of someone with this disorder and would not indicate successful treatment. Self-satisfaction would be viewed as a
positive change if the client expresses low self-esteem; however this is not a characteristic of a client with antisocial personality disorder.

Rapists are believed to harbor and act out hostile feelings toward all women through the act of rape.

Women may experience amenorrhea, which is reversible, while taking antipsychotics. Amenorrhea doesn’t indicate cessation of ovulation thus, the client can still be pregnant.

Use of cognitive techniques allows the nurse to help the client recognize that this negative beliefs may be distortions and that, by changing his thinking, he can adopt more positive beliefs that are realistic and hopeful. Agreeing with the client’s feelings and presenting a cheerful attitude are not consistent with a cognitive approach and would not be helpful in this situation. Denying the client’s feelings is belittling and may convey that the nurse does not understand the depth of the client’s distress.

Personal internal strength and supportive individuals are critical factors that can be employed to assist the individual to cope with a crisis.

Propranolol is a potent beta adrenergic blocker and producing a sedating effect, therefore it is used to treat antipsychotic induced akathisia and anxiety.

The client’s anger over the abortion is shifted to the staff and the hospital because she is unable to deal with the abortion at this time.

The TCAs affect norepinephrine as well as other neurotransmitters, and thus have significant cardiovascular side effects. Therefore, they are used with caution in elderly clients who may have increased risk factors for cardiac problems because of their age and other medical conditions. The remaining side effects would apply to any client taking a TCA and are not particular to an elderly person.

The parasympathetic nervous system would produce incomplete G.I. motility resulting in hyperactive bowel sounds, possibly leading to diarrhea.

The antidepressants fluvoxamine and clomipramine have been effective in the treatment of OCD.

Polyuria commonly occurs early in the treatment with lithium and could result in fluid volume deficit.

Signs of anxiety agent overdose include emotional lability, euphoria and impaired memory.

One of the symptoms of autistic child displays a lack of responsiveness to others. There is little or no extension to the external environment.

Cognitive thinking therapy focuses on the client’s misperceptions about self, others and the world that impact functioning and contribute to symptoms. Using medications to alter neurotransmitter activity is a psychobiologic approachto treatment. The other answer choices are frameworks for care, but hey are not applicable to this situation.

There is no set of symptoms associated with cocaine withdrawal, only the depression that follows the high caused by the drug.

This would document that the client feels comfortable enough to discuss the problems that have motivated the behavior.

When speaking to a client with Alzheimer’s disease, the nurse should use close-ended questions.Those that the client can answer with “yes” or “no” whenever possible and avoid questions that require the client to make choices. Repeating the question aids comprehension.

The client with anorexia typically feels powerless, with a sense of having little control over any aspect of life besides eating behavior. Often, parental expectations and standards are quite high and lead to the clients’ sense of guilt over not measuring up.

These adaptations are associated with opiate withdrawal which occurs after cessation or reduction of prolonged moderate or heavy use of opiates.

The client is demonstrating faulty thought processes that are negative and that govern his behavior in his work situation – issues that are typically examined using a cognitive theory approach. Issues involving learned behavior are best explored through behavior theory, not cognitive theory. Issues involving ego development are the focus of psychoanalytic theory.There is no evidence in this situation that the client has conflictual relationships in the work environment.

Systematic desensitization is a behavioral therapy technique that helps clients with irrational fears and avoidance behavior to face the thing they fear, without experiencing anxiety. There is no attempt to promote insight with this procedure, and the client will not be taught to substitute one fear for another.
Although the client’s anxiety may decrease with successful confrontation of irrational fears, the purpose of the procedure is specifically related to performing
activities that typically are avoided as part of the phobic response.

One of the core issues concerning the family of a client with anorexia is control. The family’s acceptance of the client’s ability to make independent decisions is key to successful family intervention. Although the remaining options may occur during the process of therapy, they would not necessarily indicate a successful outcome; the central family issues of dependence and independence are not addresses on these responses.

The concept that behavior is motivated and has meaning comes from the psychodynamic framework. According to this perspective, behavior arises from internal wishes or needs. Much of what motivates behavior comes from the unconscious. The remaining responses do not address the internal forces thought to motivate behavior.