Comprehensive Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing Flashcards
7 cards from real Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Exam practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Comprehensive Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing flashcards as text
A patient presents with pressured speech, decreased need for sleep, grandiosity, and hypersexuality for 5 days without significant functional impairment. What is the MOST likely diagnosis?
Answer: Bipolar II disorder, hypomanic episode
A hypomanic episode in bipolar II disorder lasts at least 4 days, causes elevated/irritable mood and increased energy, but does NOT cause marked functional impairment or require hospitalization.
Which cognitive distortion does a patient demonstrate when they say, 'I failed one exam, so I'll never pass any test and I'm a total failure'?
Answer: Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization involves drawing sweeping negative conclusions from a single event and applying them broadly across situations.
A patient with PTSD is most likely to benefit from which evidence-based, trauma-focused psychotherapy?
Answer: Prolonged exposure (PE) therapy
Prolonged exposure therapy is a first-line, evidence-based treatment for PTSD that systematically reduces avoidance and fear through in vivo and imaginal exposure to trauma-related stimuli.
A PMHNP is working with a patient under involuntary commitment. Which ethical principle is MOST in tension with this intervention?
Answer: Autonomy
Involuntary commitment overrides the patient's right to make their own decisions (autonomy) in order to protect them or others from harm.
A patient taking sertraline for 3 weeks reports nausea and insomnia but no improvement in mood. What is the BEST clinical response?
Answer: Educate the patient that SSRIs typically require 4–8 weeks for antidepressant effect
SSRIs typically take 4–8 weeks to produce full antidepressant effects, while side effects such as nausea and insomnia often appear first and tend to resolve within the first 1–2 weeks.
Which finding on mental status examination is MOST characteristic of a patient experiencing a major depressive episode?
Answer: Psychomotor retardation and constricted affect
Psychomotor retardation (slowed movement and speech) and constricted affect (reduced emotional expression) are hallmark MSE findings in major depressive disorder.
A PMHNP prescribes naltrexone for a patient with alcohol use disorder. What must be confirmed BEFORE initiating this medication?
Answer: The patient is opioid-free for at least 7–10 days
Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist and must not be started until the patient has been opioid-free for 7–10 days to avoid precipitating acute opioid withdrawal.