NUR 256 Exam 1 Study Guide (2026) | Mental Health Nursing | Galen Nursing

NUR 256
EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE
Concepts of Mental Health Nursing

Galen College of Nursing

, Review for Exam 1
Chapter 1: Mental Health and Mental Illness

 Mental Health
o Able to recognize own potential
o Cope with normal stress
o Work productively
o Make contribution to community
 Traits of Mental Health
o Ability to
 Think rationally
 Communicate appropriately
 Learn
 Grow emotionally
 Be resilient
 Have a healthy self-esteem (feeling good about yourself)
 Case Study
o Mrs. M is your neighbor. She works full time and is dealing with a troubled
teenage son and her elderly parents. She confides in you that she “can’t deal with
her life right now.”
o How could you assess her mental health?
 Body language, how she’s talking to the people she’s with (easily
irritated?), how is she handling stress, how is she feeling,
 Mental Illness
o Disorders with definable diagnosis
o Significant dysfunction in mental functioning related to
 Developmental- Alzheimer’s disease
 Biological- major depression
 Physiological disturbances- schizophrenia
o Culturally defined
 Resilience (page 3)
o Ability and capacity for people to secure resources needed to support well-being
o Associated with the process of adapting and helps people facing tragedies, loss,
trauma and severe stress
o It means recognizing the feelings readily dealing with them, and learning from the
experience rather than falling victim to negative emotions
o Characterized by
 Optimism
 Sense of mastery
 Competence
o Essential to recovery
 Diathesis-Stress Model (page 6)
o Diathesis – Biological predisposition

, o Stress – Environmental stress or trauma
o Most accepted explanation for mental illness
o Combination of genetic vulnerability and negative environmental stressors
 DSM-5
o The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition
o Official medical guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association for
diagnosing psychiatric disorders (157 disorders)
o Views patient with disorder NOT the disorder as the patient; ex: an individual
with schizophrenia or my patient has major depression
 Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses (page 13)
o Employ purposeful use of self
o Use nursing, psychosocial, neurobiological theories and research
 Use of assessment skills constantly
o Work with people throughout the life span
o Employed in a variety of settings
o “promotes mental health through the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of
human responses to mental health problems and psychiatric disorders”
 NANDA-I
o The North American Nursing Diagnosis Association International
o (NANDA-I) describes a nursing diagnosis as a clinical judgment about
individual, family, or community responses to actual or potential health problems
and life processes.
 Levels of Psychiatric Nursing Practice
o Basic Level – completed a nursing program, passed the state licensure
examination and are qualified to work in most any general or specialty area
o Advanced Practice – MSN, DNP
o Each has clearly defined roles
 Future Challenges and Roles
o Aging population
o Increasing cultural diversity
o Expanding technology
o Patient advocacy
o Legislative involvement




Chapter 2: Relevant Theories and Therapies for Nursing Practice

 Psychoanalytic Theories
o Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
 Personality structure
 Id
o Source that drives, instincts, reflexes, needs, genetic
inheritance and capacity to respond... it helps motivate us!