Mental Health Capstone Questions &
Answers
Behaviors - ANSWERS-magical thinking occurs when a client believes his actions or
thoughts can magically make things happen.
-delusions of grandeur occur when a client attaches special significance to his self-
stature and has a drastically exaggerated sense of self-importance.
-ideas of reference, the client believes all events, situations, or interactions are directly
related to him
-associate looseness occurs when the client's verbal communication jumps from one
unrelated topic to another. The client is often unaware he is not making sense.
-Flight of ideas refers to continuous, rapid speech which abruptly changes from topic to
topic.
-Grandiosity refers to the client's belief that he has special abilities or great powers.
-Reality testing refers to the client's ability to recognize and correct alterations in
thinking.
-Derealization refers to the client's belief that the environment is unreal or distant.
-Echolalia is the constant repeating of what another person is saying.
-Clang association is the use of words that rhyme.
,-neologism is the use of a fictitious word that has meaning only to the client.
-Word salad is the use of real words spoken in a sequence so that the words have no
logical meaning with one another.
Defense Mechanisms - ANSWERS-Altruism: dealing with anxiety by reaching out to
others. adaptive use.
-Sublimation is an unconscious process of substituting an acceptable activity for
unacceptable impulses. Rather than acting out inappropriately while angry with her
boss, the client chose to sublimate. This is adaptive use of a defense mechanism.
-Suppression: voluntarily denying unpleasant thoughts and feelings.
-Regression is reverting to an earlier, more primitive and child-like pattern of behavior.
ex; a person who has a disagreement with a co worker begins throwing hings at her
office.
-Dissociation is a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness,
memory, and perception of the environment. It is also manifested through
compartmentalizing. If an artist is surrounded by a noisy environment, dissociation can
be used to be absorbed into her work. This is considered adaptive.
-Displacement: shifting feelings related to an object, person, or situation to another less
threatening object, person, or situation.
-Repression is the temporary or long-term exclusion of unpleasant or unwanted
experiences, emotions, or ideas from conscious awareness. This happens on an
unconscious level. Forgetting a difficult event is considered adaptive use of repression.
Not letting something bad that happened to them prevent them from activities.
-Reaction formation: overcompensating or demonstrating the opposite behavior of what
is felt.
-Rationalization: creating reasonable and acceptable explanations for unacceptable
behavior.
-Splitting is the inability to incorporate
positive and negative aspects of oneself or others into a whole image (one is either all
good or all bad)
-Undoing: performing an act to make up for prior behavior.
-Identification: conscious or unconscious assumption of the characteristics of another
individual or group
, - ANSWERS-Reaction-formation occurs when the client behaves in an opposite
manner from his actual feelings.
-Compensation occurs when a person overcomes a weakness by focusing on a more
desirable behavior or trait.
-The client is demonstrating rationalization by trying to justify his alcohol use by blaming
his boss.
-Suppression occurs when a person consciously denies a feeling that is disturbing to
him.
Lithium level (therapeutic) - ANSWERS0.8-1.4 mEq/L
-The nurse should recognize this client is at risk for hyponatremia.
Mental Status Examination (MSE) - ANSWERSGrooming is included in an MSE which
consists of appearance, behavior, speech, mood, disorders of the form of thought,
perceptual disturbances, cognition, and ideas of harming self or others.
Long-term memory is included in an MSE which consists of appearance, behavior,
speech, and mood, disorders of the form of thought, perceptual disturbances, cognition,
and ideas of harming self or others.
Affect is included in an MSE which consists of appearance, behavior, speech, and
mood, disorders of the form of thought, perceptual disturbances, cognition, and ideas of
harming self or others.
-The nurse can assess for perceptual disturbances by determining if the client is having
auditory or visual hallucinations, such as hearing voices.
-The nurse can assess the client's cognitive status by asking questions that test the
client's recent and immediate memory, such as what they had for dinner.
-The nurse can assess the client for ideas of harming themselves or others by asking
the client if they have suicidal or homicidal thoughts, a plan for suicide, or the means
and the opportunity to carry out a plan.
-The nurse can perform a psychosocial assessment by asking questions about how the
client relieves stress, which can provide information about their coping abilities.
chlorpromazine - ANSWERSSE:
-extrapyramidal side effects (EPS): muscle spasms of the neck, fidgeting behavior,
tremors of the hands
Community Based Mental Health Programs - ANSWERSPartial Hospitalization
Programs:
●intense short-term treatment
Answers
Behaviors - ANSWERS-magical thinking occurs when a client believes his actions or
thoughts can magically make things happen.
-delusions of grandeur occur when a client attaches special significance to his self-
stature and has a drastically exaggerated sense of self-importance.
-ideas of reference, the client believes all events, situations, or interactions are directly
related to him
-associate looseness occurs when the client's verbal communication jumps from one
unrelated topic to another. The client is often unaware he is not making sense.
-Flight of ideas refers to continuous, rapid speech which abruptly changes from topic to
topic.
-Grandiosity refers to the client's belief that he has special abilities or great powers.
-Reality testing refers to the client's ability to recognize and correct alterations in
thinking.
-Derealization refers to the client's belief that the environment is unreal or distant.
-Echolalia is the constant repeating of what another person is saying.
-Clang association is the use of words that rhyme.
,-neologism is the use of a fictitious word that has meaning only to the client.
-Word salad is the use of real words spoken in a sequence so that the words have no
logical meaning with one another.
Defense Mechanisms - ANSWERS-Altruism: dealing with anxiety by reaching out to
others. adaptive use.
-Sublimation is an unconscious process of substituting an acceptable activity for
unacceptable impulses. Rather than acting out inappropriately while angry with her
boss, the client chose to sublimate. This is adaptive use of a defense mechanism.
-Suppression: voluntarily denying unpleasant thoughts and feelings.
-Regression is reverting to an earlier, more primitive and child-like pattern of behavior.
ex; a person who has a disagreement with a co worker begins throwing hings at her
office.
-Dissociation is a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness,
memory, and perception of the environment. It is also manifested through
compartmentalizing. If an artist is surrounded by a noisy environment, dissociation can
be used to be absorbed into her work. This is considered adaptive.
-Displacement: shifting feelings related to an object, person, or situation to another less
threatening object, person, or situation.
-Repression is the temporary or long-term exclusion of unpleasant or unwanted
experiences, emotions, or ideas from conscious awareness. This happens on an
unconscious level. Forgetting a difficult event is considered adaptive use of repression.
Not letting something bad that happened to them prevent them from activities.
-Reaction formation: overcompensating or demonstrating the opposite behavior of what
is felt.
-Rationalization: creating reasonable and acceptable explanations for unacceptable
behavior.
-Splitting is the inability to incorporate
positive and negative aspects of oneself or others into a whole image (one is either all
good or all bad)
-Undoing: performing an act to make up for prior behavior.
-Identification: conscious or unconscious assumption of the characteristics of another
individual or group
, - ANSWERS-Reaction-formation occurs when the client behaves in an opposite
manner from his actual feelings.
-Compensation occurs when a person overcomes a weakness by focusing on a more
desirable behavior or trait.
-The client is demonstrating rationalization by trying to justify his alcohol use by blaming
his boss.
-Suppression occurs when a person consciously denies a feeling that is disturbing to
him.
Lithium level (therapeutic) - ANSWERS0.8-1.4 mEq/L
-The nurse should recognize this client is at risk for hyponatremia.
Mental Status Examination (MSE) - ANSWERSGrooming is included in an MSE which
consists of appearance, behavior, speech, mood, disorders of the form of thought,
perceptual disturbances, cognition, and ideas of harming self or others.
Long-term memory is included in an MSE which consists of appearance, behavior,
speech, and mood, disorders of the form of thought, perceptual disturbances, cognition,
and ideas of harming self or others.
Affect is included in an MSE which consists of appearance, behavior, speech, and
mood, disorders of the form of thought, perceptual disturbances, cognition, and ideas of
harming self or others.
-The nurse can assess for perceptual disturbances by determining if the client is having
auditory or visual hallucinations, such as hearing voices.
-The nurse can assess the client's cognitive status by asking questions that test the
client's recent and immediate memory, such as what they had for dinner.
-The nurse can assess the client for ideas of harming themselves or others by asking
the client if they have suicidal or homicidal thoughts, a plan for suicide, or the means
and the opportunity to carry out a plan.
-The nurse can perform a psychosocial assessment by asking questions about how the
client relieves stress, which can provide information about their coping abilities.
chlorpromazine - ANSWERSSE:
-extrapyramidal side effects (EPS): muscle spasms of the neck, fidgeting behavior,
tremors of the hands
Community Based Mental Health Programs - ANSWERSPartial Hospitalization
Programs:
●intense short-term treatment
