Mental Health Nursing Concepts Flashcards

A client with schizophrenia insists that the television is sending them personal messages. Which type of symptom is this?

Answer: Positive symptom (delusion of reference)

A delusion of reference is a positive symptom of schizophrenia where the client believes external stimuli are directed personally at them.

A client with major depressive disorder expresses that things will never get better. Which therapeutic communication technique best addresses this hopelessness?

Answer: Acknowledge the client's pain while offering realistic hope: 'I hear how painful this is. Many people with depression find that treatment helps.'

Acknowledging feelings while offering realistic hope validates the experience without dismissing it and provides therapeutic support.

A client on lithium carbonate has serum lithium level 1.8 mEq/L with nausea, tremor, and polyuria. How should the practical nurse interpret this?

Answer: Toxic level, notify physician and withhold next dose

Lithium therapeutic range is 0.6-1.2 mEq/L maintenance. A level of 1.8 mEq/L is above therapeutic range indicating toxicity.

Under provincial Mental Health Act legislation, what criterion must be met for a physician to sign an involuntary admission order?

Answer: The client is a risk of serious harm to themselves or others due to mental disorder

Involuntary admission requires that the client is a risk of serious harm to themselves or others as a direct result of a mental disorder.

A client with anorexia nervosa has BMI 14.5 and is medically unstable. What is the priority focus of nursing care?

Answer: Medical stabilization: monitoring vital signs, electrolytes, and cardiac function

Medical stabilization is the priority when a client with anorexia is medically unstable. Life-threatening cardiac dysrhythmias and refeeding syndrome must be addressed first.

Which response demonstrates motivational interviewing (MI) techniques with a client ambivalent about taking antidepressants?

Answer: 'What are your concerns about the medication, and what might be some potential benefits for you?'

Asking about both concerns and potential benefits elicits the client's ambivalence and engages their own motivation, a core MI technique.