Quiz #9

What is an appropriate way a nurse can help a client to decrease anxiety?

Acquire skills with which to face stressful events

A client with a history of obsessive-compulsive behaviors has a marked decrease in symptoms and expresses a wish to obtain a part-time job. On the day of a job interview the client arrives at the mental health center displaying signs of anxiety. What is the nurse's best response to the client's behavior?

"Going for your interview triggered some feelings in you. Perhaps you could call a friend to drive you there."

A nurse considers that in a conversion disorder pseudoneurologic symptoms such as paralysis or blindness:

Are generally necessary for the client to cope with a stressful situation

A nurse is caring for a client who has a diagnosis of conversion disorder with paralysis of the lower extremities. Which is the most therapeutic nursing intervention?

Avoiding focusing on the client's physical symptoms

What should a nurse consider when planning care for a client who is using ritualistic behavior?

Clients do not want to repeat the ritual but feel compelled to do so

A client is using ritualistic behaviors. Why should a nurse allow the client ample time for the performance of the ritual?

Denial of this activity may precipitate panic levels of anxiety

What should a nurse include in the initial plan of care for a client with the long-standing, obsessive-compulsive behavior of hand washing?

Develop a routine schedule of activities to reduce the need for the ritualistic behavior

A nurse is caring for a client who uses ritualistic behavior. What common antiobessional medication does the nurse anticipate will be prescribed?

Fluvoxamine

A nurse is preparing to care for a client who engages in ritualistic behavior. What should the plan of care include?

Help the client to understand that the behavior is caused by maladaptive coping to increased anxiety

What is the priority discharge criterion for a client who is using ritualistic behaviors?

Intervenes to maintain increasing anxiety at a manageable level

A nurse is developing a care plan for a client with an obsessive-compulsive behavior disorder. Which nursing intervention will most likely increase the client's anxiety?

Limiting the client's ritualistic acts to three times a day

Hospitalization or day-treatment centers are often indicated for the treatment of a client with an obsessive-compulsive disorder because these settings:

Provide the neutral environment the client needs to work through conflicts

A client newly diagnosed with a conversion disorder is manifesting paralysis of a leg. The nurse can expect this client to:

Recover the use of the affected leg but, under stress, again develop similar symptoms

A nurse is caring for a client with a somatoform disorder. What should the nurse anticipate that this client will do?

Redirect the conversation with the nurse to physical symptoms

What characteristic of anxiety is associated with a diagnosis of conversion disorder?

Relieved by the symptom

A nurse is caring for a client with an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder that involves rituals. What should the nurse conclude about the ritual?

Seems illogical but is needed by the person

An anxious client reports experiencing pain in the abdomen and feeling empty and hollow. A diagnostic workup reveals no physical causes of these clinical findings. What term best reflects what the client is experiencing?

Somatization

A client comes into a mental health center with severe anxiety evidenced by crying, wringing the hands, and pacing. What should be the first nursing intervention?

Stay physically close to the client

A client believes that doorknobs are contaminated and refuses to touch them, except with a paper tissue. What nursing intervention is most therapeutic for this client?

Supply the client with paper tissues to help functioning until anxiety is reduced

Which is the best nursing intervention during the working phase of the therapeutic relationship to meet the needs of individuals who demonstrate obsessive-compulsive behavior?

Supporting rituals while setting realistic limits

A nurse is caring for a client diagnosed with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. What is the basis for the obsessions and compulsions?

Unconscious control of unacceptable feelings

What characteristic uniquely associated with psychophysiologic disorders differentiates them from somatoform disorders?

Underlying pathophysiology