NUR 214 (Mental Health - Test 3) Study Notes Questions with
Correct Answers (Grade A+)
Question 1: Emotions
Answer: An individual's feeling responses to a wide variety of stimuli
Question 2: Mood
Answer: Similar to emotions except they last longer and are less focused on an object or event and are often
less intense
Question 3: T/F: A patient's mood produces observable physiological reactions
Answer: FALSE **does NOT produce observable physiological reactions
Question 4: Affect
Answer: An individual's automatic reaction to an event or situation evidenced by verbal/nonverbal
responses and could involve a person's unconscious reaction to something good or bad
Question 5: T/F: Only the individual can describe their mood and the feelings they have
Answer: TRUE
Question 6: Mental health
Answer: The state of well-being in which a person can work productively, cope with change and adversity,
engage in meaningful relationships, and realize own potential
Question 7: Mental illness
Answer: A condition that affects emotions, thinking, behavior, or any combination of the three **Not
typically confirmed until the person experiences serious, lengthy impairment in ability to function
Question 8: T/F: Serious mental illnesses increase possibility that the person will experience significant
dysfunction related to daily functioning and ability to achieve life goals
Answer: TRUE
Question 9: When healthcare professionals describe affect in terms of continuum this includes what?
Answer: 1. Depression (Abnormal lowered mood) 2. Euthymia (Stable mood - not low or high) 3. Mania
(Elevated abnormal mood)
Page 1
,Question 10: When healthcare professionals describe affect in terms of characteristics this may include:
Answer: 1. Appropriateness (Affect that matches individual's emotional state/immediate situation) 2. Range
(Variety of feelings an individual conveys through affect) 3. Stability (How often and how rapidly an
individual's affect fluctuates) 4. Intensity (Degree of emotion displayed in a person's affect) 5. Congruence
(Emotional reaction you have is congruent or in agreement with the situation you're experiencing)
Question 11: Labile or rapidly changing affect suggests what?
Answer: Presence of possible disease or disorder
Question 12: Emotions, mood, and affect originate in what brain system?
Answer: Limbic system
Question 13: Current theory (mood & affect)
Answer: Alterations in neurotransmitter activity and/or neuronal receptivity to neurotransmitters contribute
to development of mood disorders
Question 14: Personality
Answer: An individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
Question 15: Stress
Answer: the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise
as threatening or challenging
Question 16: Excessive stress and/or maladaptive coping responses are well-known contributors to
alterations in what?
Answer: Mood and affect
Question 17: Chronic stress can lead to what type of imbalance that disrupts normal brain function?
Answer: Hormonal imbalances
Question 18: Circadian rhythms
Answer: Internally generated patterns of body functions, including hormonal signals, sleep, blood pressure,
and temperature regulation, which have approximately a 24-hour cycle and occur even in the absence of
normal cues about whether it is day or night
Page 2
, Question 19: Most people tend to experience and follow what type of mood pattern due to circadian
rhythms throughout the day?
Answer: Lower mood in the morning --> become more positive during the day --> peaks in the afternoon
--> declines in the evening
Question 20: T/F: Research indicates that, as compared to women, men are more likely to physically
express their emotions, are more comfortable discussing their feelings, and are more skilled at reading
others' emotions
Answer: FALSE **WOMEN are more like to to express emotion
Question 21: What age group tends to have a more positive mood and affect possibly because of better
use of strategies for emotional regulation?
Answer: Older adults
Question 22: T/F: A patient with low thyroid levels can have symptoms that mimic depression
Answer: TRUE
Question 23: A patient with an elevation or decrease in mood and affect can have an impaired ability to
cope with what?
Answer: Stressors
Question 24: Anhedonia
Answer: A loss of interest or inability to experience pleasures with previous activities
Question 25: Anxious distress
Answer: A combination of symptoms associated with high anxiety that could include restlessness, impaired
concentration due to worry, fear of impending doom, and fear of losing control
Question 26: T/F: Treatment is critical for alterations in mood and affect because without treatment
there is an increased risk for suicide
Answer: TRUE
Question 27: Patients with untreated alterations in mood and affect that lead to depression or bipolar
disease often experience what types of difficulties?
Answer: 1. Communication skills 2. Family relationships 3. Ability or motivation to adhere to a treatment
plan
Page 3
Correct Answers (Grade A+)
Question 1: Emotions
Answer: An individual's feeling responses to a wide variety of stimuli
Question 2: Mood
Answer: Similar to emotions except they last longer and are less focused on an object or event and are often
less intense
Question 3: T/F: A patient's mood produces observable physiological reactions
Answer: FALSE **does NOT produce observable physiological reactions
Question 4: Affect
Answer: An individual's automatic reaction to an event or situation evidenced by verbal/nonverbal
responses and could involve a person's unconscious reaction to something good or bad
Question 5: T/F: Only the individual can describe their mood and the feelings they have
Answer: TRUE
Question 6: Mental health
Answer: The state of well-being in which a person can work productively, cope with change and adversity,
engage in meaningful relationships, and realize own potential
Question 7: Mental illness
Answer: A condition that affects emotions, thinking, behavior, or any combination of the three **Not
typically confirmed until the person experiences serious, lengthy impairment in ability to function
Question 8: T/F: Serious mental illnesses increase possibility that the person will experience significant
dysfunction related to daily functioning and ability to achieve life goals
Answer: TRUE
Question 9: When healthcare professionals describe affect in terms of continuum this includes what?
Answer: 1. Depression (Abnormal lowered mood) 2. Euthymia (Stable mood - not low or high) 3. Mania
(Elevated abnormal mood)
Page 1
,Question 10: When healthcare professionals describe affect in terms of characteristics this may include:
Answer: 1. Appropriateness (Affect that matches individual's emotional state/immediate situation) 2. Range
(Variety of feelings an individual conveys through affect) 3. Stability (How often and how rapidly an
individual's affect fluctuates) 4. Intensity (Degree of emotion displayed in a person's affect) 5. Congruence
(Emotional reaction you have is congruent or in agreement with the situation you're experiencing)
Question 11: Labile or rapidly changing affect suggests what?
Answer: Presence of possible disease or disorder
Question 12: Emotions, mood, and affect originate in what brain system?
Answer: Limbic system
Question 13: Current theory (mood & affect)
Answer: Alterations in neurotransmitter activity and/or neuronal receptivity to neurotransmitters contribute
to development of mood disorders
Question 14: Personality
Answer: An individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
Question 15: Stress
Answer: the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise
as threatening or challenging
Question 16: Excessive stress and/or maladaptive coping responses are well-known contributors to
alterations in what?
Answer: Mood and affect
Question 17: Chronic stress can lead to what type of imbalance that disrupts normal brain function?
Answer: Hormonal imbalances
Question 18: Circadian rhythms
Answer: Internally generated patterns of body functions, including hormonal signals, sleep, blood pressure,
and temperature regulation, which have approximately a 24-hour cycle and occur even in the absence of
normal cues about whether it is day or night
Page 2
, Question 19: Most people tend to experience and follow what type of mood pattern due to circadian
rhythms throughout the day?
Answer: Lower mood in the morning --> become more positive during the day --> peaks in the afternoon
--> declines in the evening
Question 20: T/F: Research indicates that, as compared to women, men are more likely to physically
express their emotions, are more comfortable discussing their feelings, and are more skilled at reading
others' emotions
Answer: FALSE **WOMEN are more like to to express emotion
Question 21: What age group tends to have a more positive mood and affect possibly because of better
use of strategies for emotional regulation?
Answer: Older adults
Question 22: T/F: A patient with low thyroid levels can have symptoms that mimic depression
Answer: TRUE
Question 23: A patient with an elevation or decrease in mood and affect can have an impaired ability to
cope with what?
Answer: Stressors
Question 24: Anhedonia
Answer: A loss of interest or inability to experience pleasures with previous activities
Question 25: Anxious distress
Answer: A combination of symptoms associated with high anxiety that could include restlessness, impaired
concentration due to worry, fear of impending doom, and fear of losing control
Question 26: T/F: Treatment is critical for alterations in mood and affect because without treatment
there is an increased risk for suicide
Answer: TRUE
Question 27: Patients with untreated alterations in mood and affect that lead to depression or bipolar
disease often experience what types of difficulties?
Answer: 1. Communication skills 2. Family relationships 3. Ability or motivation to adhere to a treatment
plan
Page 3
