Walden University NRNP 6645 Final Exam (pdf) | 2026/2027 |
Psychotherapy Q&A | Psychiatric Nursing
**1. The advanced practice psychiatric nurse encourages a patient with
gambling addiction to develop a relapse prevention plan. Which of the
following is true about a relapse prevention plan?**
A) A relapse prevention plan includes identifying triggers to the patient's
gambling and a variety of coping strategies to avoid or successfully manage
triggers without reverting to gambling.
B) A relapse prevention plan should be completed during the initial stage of
treatment.
C) The main focus of a relapse prevention plan is on changing behaviors.
D) The main focus of a relapse prevention plan is on cognitive or thought
processes to decrease the desire to gamble.
**Correct Answer: A**
**Rationale:** A relapse prevention plan includes identifying triggers to the
patient's addiction and a variety of coping strategies to avoid or successfully
manage triggers without reverting to addictive behaviors. It is not a one-time
event but an ongoing process throughout treatment.
---
**2. According to Dearing, Stuewig, and Tangney (2005), understanding the
difference between guilt and shame and its impact on an individual's
motivation is critical to hope and the recovery process. Which of the
following is true regarding guilt and shame?**
A) Shame drives a person to engage in treatment while guilt drives a person
to avoid treatment.
,B) Shame causes a person to perceive self as a failure and guilt causes
avoidance of treatment.
C) Guilt causes a person to perceive himself as a loser and shame drives a
person to avoid treatment.
D) Shame drives avoidance from treatment; guilt often motivates a person to
seek treatment.
**Correct Answer: D**
**Rationale:** Shame involves a negative evaluation of the self ("I am bad"),
which often drives avoidance from treatment. Guilt involves a negative
evaluation of a specific behavior ("I did something bad"), which can motivate
a person to seek treatment and make amends.
---
**3. The Gestalt therapist working with a patient notices that every time a
sensitive issue comes up, the patient will change the topic and tell a joke.
The therapist recognizes this interruption as which of the following?**
A) Introjection
B) Projection
C) Deflection
D) Retroflection
**Correct Answer: C**
**Rationale:** Deflection is a Gestalt therapy resistance pattern in which the
individual avoids contact or awareness by changing the subject, using
humor, or distracting from the issue at hand. Introjection involves uncritically
,accepting others' beliefs, projection involves attributing one's own feelings to
others, and retroflection involves doing to oneself what one wants to do to
others.
---
**4. A patient whose husband had recently died suddenly expresses remorse
regarding an argument they had shortly before his death. The Gestalt
therapist would likely use which of the following techniques to complete
unfinished business?**
A) Focusing
B) Dreamwork
C) Empty-chair dialogue
D) Language of responsibility
**Correct Answer: C**
**Rationale:** The empty-chair dialogue is a Gestalt therapy technique used
to help patients complete unfinished business by speaking to a significant
person (or aspect of themselves) as if they were sitting in an empty chair.
This allows the expression of unresolved feelings and promotes closure.
---
**5. In child psychotherapy, consideration of systems that promote a child's
ongoing development include which of the following?**
A) Peers
B) Family
, C) School engaged in services
D) All of the above
**Correct Answer: D**
**Rationale:** Child psychotherapy requires consideration of multiple
systems that promote ongoing development, including peers, family, and
school. A systems perspective recognizes that children are embedded within
multiple interconnected systems that influence their mental health and
development.
---
**6. The advanced practice psychiatric nurse may intervene as appropriate
with agencies or persons in order to advocate for the patient; do for the
patient what he or she cannot do for self, always with an aim toward
maximum independence and growth. This is consistent with which basic
strategy of dynamic supportive therapy?**
A) Maximize adaptive coping mechanisms
B) Reality testing
C) Environmental intervention
D) Problem-solving
**Correct Answer: C**
**Rationale:** Environmental intervention is a basic strategy of dynamic
supportive therapy that involves advocating for the patient with agencies or
persons and doing for the patient what they cannot do for themselves,
always with an aim toward maximum independence and growth.
Psychotherapy Q&A | Psychiatric Nursing
**1. The advanced practice psychiatric nurse encourages a patient with
gambling addiction to develop a relapse prevention plan. Which of the
following is true about a relapse prevention plan?**
A) A relapse prevention plan includes identifying triggers to the patient's
gambling and a variety of coping strategies to avoid or successfully manage
triggers without reverting to gambling.
B) A relapse prevention plan should be completed during the initial stage of
treatment.
C) The main focus of a relapse prevention plan is on changing behaviors.
D) The main focus of a relapse prevention plan is on cognitive or thought
processes to decrease the desire to gamble.
**Correct Answer: A**
**Rationale:** A relapse prevention plan includes identifying triggers to the
patient's addiction and a variety of coping strategies to avoid or successfully
manage triggers without reverting to addictive behaviors. It is not a one-time
event but an ongoing process throughout treatment.
---
**2. According to Dearing, Stuewig, and Tangney (2005), understanding the
difference between guilt and shame and its impact on an individual's
motivation is critical to hope and the recovery process. Which of the
following is true regarding guilt and shame?**
A) Shame drives a person to engage in treatment while guilt drives a person
to avoid treatment.
,B) Shame causes a person to perceive self as a failure and guilt causes
avoidance of treatment.
C) Guilt causes a person to perceive himself as a loser and shame drives a
person to avoid treatment.
D) Shame drives avoidance from treatment; guilt often motivates a person to
seek treatment.
**Correct Answer: D**
**Rationale:** Shame involves a negative evaluation of the self ("I am bad"),
which often drives avoidance from treatment. Guilt involves a negative
evaluation of a specific behavior ("I did something bad"), which can motivate
a person to seek treatment and make amends.
---
**3. The Gestalt therapist working with a patient notices that every time a
sensitive issue comes up, the patient will change the topic and tell a joke.
The therapist recognizes this interruption as which of the following?**
A) Introjection
B) Projection
C) Deflection
D) Retroflection
**Correct Answer: C**
**Rationale:** Deflection is a Gestalt therapy resistance pattern in which the
individual avoids contact or awareness by changing the subject, using
humor, or distracting from the issue at hand. Introjection involves uncritically
,accepting others' beliefs, projection involves attributing one's own feelings to
others, and retroflection involves doing to oneself what one wants to do to
others.
---
**4. A patient whose husband had recently died suddenly expresses remorse
regarding an argument they had shortly before his death. The Gestalt
therapist would likely use which of the following techniques to complete
unfinished business?**
A) Focusing
B) Dreamwork
C) Empty-chair dialogue
D) Language of responsibility
**Correct Answer: C**
**Rationale:** The empty-chair dialogue is a Gestalt therapy technique used
to help patients complete unfinished business by speaking to a significant
person (or aspect of themselves) as if they were sitting in an empty chair.
This allows the expression of unresolved feelings and promotes closure.
---
**5. In child psychotherapy, consideration of systems that promote a child's
ongoing development include which of the following?**
A) Peers
B) Family
, C) School engaged in services
D) All of the above
**Correct Answer: D**
**Rationale:** Child psychotherapy requires consideration of multiple
systems that promote ongoing development, including peers, family, and
school. A systems perspective recognizes that children are embedded within
multiple interconnected systems that influence their mental health and
development.
---
**6. The advanced practice psychiatric nurse may intervene as appropriate
with agencies or persons in order to advocate for the patient; do for the
patient what he or she cannot do for self, always with an aim toward
maximum independence and growth. This is consistent with which basic
strategy of dynamic supportive therapy?**
A) Maximize adaptive coping mechanisms
B) Reality testing
C) Environmental intervention
D) Problem-solving
**Correct Answer: C**
**Rationale:** Environmental intervention is a basic strategy of dynamic
supportive therapy that involves advocating for the patient with agencies or
persons and doing for the patient what they cannot do for themselves,
always with an aim toward maximum independence and growth.
