1
2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
Questions and Verified Answers with
Detailed Rationales Graded A+ Guaranteed
Pass
A client is seen in the emergency department for symptoms of acute anxiety related to the
death of her mother in an automobile accident 2 hours ago. To prepare a care plan, the nurse
must correctly hypothesize that the client will need teaching about a drug from the group
called:
a) tricyclic antidepressants
b) antimanic drug
c) benzodiazepines
d) neuroleptic drugs
c) benzodiazepines
A client is hospitalized with a mood disorder displays an elevated, unstable mood,
aggressiveness, agitation, talkativeness, and irritability. The nurse can begin care planning
based on the expectation that the psychiatrist is most likely to prescribe a medication
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2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
classified as an:
a) anticholinergic
b) mood stabilizer
c) psychostimulant
d) antidepressant
b) mood stabilizer
A client's husband is a chemist. He asks the nurse the action by which SSRIs lift depression.
The nurse should explain that SSRIs:
a) make more serotonin available at the synaptic gap
b) destroy increased amounts of neurotransmitters
c) increase production of acetylcholine and dopamine
d) block muscarinic and alpha 1 norepinephrine receptors
a) make more serotonin available at the synaptic gap
The nurse is caring for a college student who attempted suicide by overdose believes brain
biochemical dysfunction contributes to suicidal behavior. The nurse will be better able to plan
necessary health teaching if she identifies the probable neurotransmitter alteration of:
a) acetylcholine excess
b) serotonin deficiency
c) dopamine excess
d) aminobutyric acid deficiency
b) serotonin deficiency
A 20 year old economics major became severely depressed after failing two examinations in
economics. She cried for 2 hours, then called her parents who live in a neighboring state,
planning to ask if she could return home. Her parents were in Europe. When her roommate
went home for the weekend, the client gave her three expensive sweaters to keep. Later, the
dormitory resident assistant returned a book to the client's room and found her unconscious
on the floor, with an empty pill bottle nearby. The client behavior that provided a clue to the
suicide attempt was:
a) calling her parents
b) staying in her dorm room
c) giving away her sweaters
d) excessive crying
c) giving away her sweaters
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2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
The nurse uses the SAD PERSONS scale as he interviews a client who has expressed suicidal
intentions. This tool provides data relevant to:
a) mood disturbance
b) suicide potential
c) current stress level
d) level of anxiety
b) suicide potential
A college student who attempted suicide by overdose was treated in the emergency
department. Because the client lives in the dorm, her roommate is away, and her parents are
in Europe, the decision was made to hospitalize her. The nursing diagnosis of highest priority
would be:
a) powerlessness
b) social isolation
c) compromised family coping
D) risk for self-directed violence
D) risk for self-directed violence
The nurse's effort to assist a suicidal client to examine alternatives to suicide are best
supported by:
a) tricyclic antidepressants
b) the client's ambivalence
c) suicide precautions
d) hospitalizations
b) the client's ambivalence
When the nurse and client construct a no-suicide contract, the preferable wording would be:
a) "I will not try to harm myself during the next 24 hours
b) "in the next 24 hours I will not, for any reason, accidentally or purposefully, kill myself"
c) "I will not kill myself until I call you"
d) "I will not make a suicide attempt while I am hospitalized"
b) "in the next 24 hours I will not, for any reason, accidentally or purposefully, kill myself"
The most helpful response for the nurse to make when a client being treated as an outpatient
states, "I am considering committing suicide" is:
a) "I am glad you shared this. There is nothing to worry about. We will handle It together"
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2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
b) "We need to talk about the things you have to live for"
c) "I think you should admit yourself to the hospital to get help with this"
d) "Bringing this up is a very positive action on your part"
d) "Bringing this up is a very positive action on your part"
The statement that provides the best rationale for the nursing intervention of monitoring the
severely depressed client closely during antidepressant therapy is:
a) as depression lifts, physical energy becomes available to carry out a plan for suicide
b) suicide may be precipitated by a variety of internal and external events
c) suicidal clients have difficulty using social support
d) suicide is an impulsive act
a) as depression lifts, physical energy becomes available to carry out a plan for suicide
The most appropriate response by the nurse when a despondent client says "nothing matters
anymore" would be:
a) "are you having thoughts of suicide"
b) "I am not sure I understand what you are trying to say"
c) "try to stay hopeful. things have a way of working out"
d) "tell me more about the things that interested you before you began to feel depressed"
a) "are you having thoughts of suicide"
In a treatment team planning meeting a nurse states her concern about whether the staff is
behaving ethically in using restraint to prevent one client from engaging in self-mutilating
behavior when the care plan for another self-mutilating client calls for one-on-one supervision.
The ethical principle that should govern the situation is:
a) beneficence
b) autonomy
c) fidelity
d) justice
d) justice
The nursing intervention that constitutes false imprisonment is:
a) the client is confused and combative. he insists that no one can stop him from leaving. The
nurse restrains him without a physician's order, then seeks the order
b) the client has been "pesky" seeking the attention of the nurses in the nurses' station much
of the day. Now the nurse escorts him to his room and tells him to stay there or he'll be put
into seclusion
2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
Questions and Verified Answers with
Detailed Rationales Graded A+ Guaranteed
Pass
A client is seen in the emergency department for symptoms of acute anxiety related to the
death of her mother in an automobile accident 2 hours ago. To prepare a care plan, the nurse
must correctly hypothesize that the client will need teaching about a drug from the group
called:
a) tricyclic antidepressants
b) antimanic drug
c) benzodiazepines
d) neuroleptic drugs
c) benzodiazepines
A client is hospitalized with a mood disorder displays an elevated, unstable mood,
aggressiveness, agitation, talkativeness, and irritability. The nurse can begin care planning
based on the expectation that the psychiatrist is most likely to prescribe a medication
, 2
2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
classified as an:
a) anticholinergic
b) mood stabilizer
c) psychostimulant
d) antidepressant
b) mood stabilizer
A client's husband is a chemist. He asks the nurse the action by which SSRIs lift depression.
The nurse should explain that SSRIs:
a) make more serotonin available at the synaptic gap
b) destroy increased amounts of neurotransmitters
c) increase production of acetylcholine and dopamine
d) block muscarinic and alpha 1 norepinephrine receptors
a) make more serotonin available at the synaptic gap
The nurse is caring for a college student who attempted suicide by overdose believes brain
biochemical dysfunction contributes to suicidal behavior. The nurse will be better able to plan
necessary health teaching if she identifies the probable neurotransmitter alteration of:
a) acetylcholine excess
b) serotonin deficiency
c) dopamine excess
d) aminobutyric acid deficiency
b) serotonin deficiency
A 20 year old economics major became severely depressed after failing two examinations in
economics. She cried for 2 hours, then called her parents who live in a neighboring state,
planning to ask if she could return home. Her parents were in Europe. When her roommate
went home for the weekend, the client gave her three expensive sweaters to keep. Later, the
dormitory resident assistant returned a book to the client's room and found her unconscious
on the floor, with an empty pill bottle nearby. The client behavior that provided a clue to the
suicide attempt was:
a) calling her parents
b) staying in her dorm room
c) giving away her sweaters
d) excessive crying
c) giving away her sweaters
, 3
2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
The nurse uses the SAD PERSONS scale as he interviews a client who has expressed suicidal
intentions. This tool provides data relevant to:
a) mood disturbance
b) suicide potential
c) current stress level
d) level of anxiety
b) suicide potential
A college student who attempted suicide by overdose was treated in the emergency
department. Because the client lives in the dorm, her roommate is away, and her parents are
in Europe, the decision was made to hospitalize her. The nursing diagnosis of highest priority
would be:
a) powerlessness
b) social isolation
c) compromised family coping
D) risk for self-directed violence
D) risk for self-directed violence
The nurse's effort to assist a suicidal client to examine alternatives to suicide are best
supported by:
a) tricyclic antidepressants
b) the client's ambivalence
c) suicide precautions
d) hospitalizations
b) the client's ambivalence
When the nurse and client construct a no-suicide contract, the preferable wording would be:
a) "I will not try to harm myself during the next 24 hours
b) "in the next 24 hours I will not, for any reason, accidentally or purposefully, kill myself"
c) "I will not kill myself until I call you"
d) "I will not make a suicide attempt while I am hospitalized"
b) "in the next 24 hours I will not, for any reason, accidentally or purposefully, kill myself"
The most helpful response for the nurse to make when a client being treated as an outpatient
states, "I am considering committing suicide" is:
a) "I am glad you shared this. There is nothing to worry about. We will handle It together"
, 4
2026 ATI Capstone Mental Health Exam
b) "We need to talk about the things you have to live for"
c) "I think you should admit yourself to the hospital to get help with this"
d) "Bringing this up is a very positive action on your part"
d) "Bringing this up is a very positive action on your part"
The statement that provides the best rationale for the nursing intervention of monitoring the
severely depressed client closely during antidepressant therapy is:
a) as depression lifts, physical energy becomes available to carry out a plan for suicide
b) suicide may be precipitated by a variety of internal and external events
c) suicidal clients have difficulty using social support
d) suicide is an impulsive act
a) as depression lifts, physical energy becomes available to carry out a plan for suicide
The most appropriate response by the nurse when a despondent client says "nothing matters
anymore" would be:
a) "are you having thoughts of suicide"
b) "I am not sure I understand what you are trying to say"
c) "try to stay hopeful. things have a way of working out"
d) "tell me more about the things that interested you before you began to feel depressed"
a) "are you having thoughts of suicide"
In a treatment team planning meeting a nurse states her concern about whether the staff is
behaving ethically in using restraint to prevent one client from engaging in self-mutilating
behavior when the care plan for another self-mutilating client calls for one-on-one supervision.
The ethical principle that should govern the situation is:
a) beneficence
b) autonomy
c) fidelity
d) justice
d) justice
The nursing intervention that constitutes false imprisonment is:
a) the client is confused and combative. he insists that no one can stop him from leaving. The
nurse restrains him without a physician's order, then seeks the order
b) the client has been "pesky" seeking the attention of the nurses in the nurses' station much
of the day. Now the nurse escorts him to his room and tells him to stay there or he'll be put
into seclusion
