NR548 Practice Exam: Psychiatric Mental
Health Assessment (Qualified!!!) Latest
2025
Psychiatric interview --- correct precise answer ---the process by
which psychiatric assessment is conducted
-primary tasks
• building a therapeutic alliance between the PMHNP & client
• obtaining a database of psychiatric info about the client
• establishing a dx
• negotiating a tx plan
Therapeutic Alliance --- correct precise answer ---a feeling that you
should create over the course of the diagnostic interview, a sense of
rapport, trust, and warmth
-most important goal of the interview process
-the cooperative working relationship between the therapist and
client
• begins during the initial or opening phase of the interview
-fundamental component of successful therapy
,• Without trust, adherence to treatment recommendations may be
compromised
• interview may not elicit the information needed to formulate an
appropriate dx & plan of care without rapport & trust
Creating rapport: tips --- correct precise answer ----Be Yourself
-Be Warm, Courteous, and Emotionally Sensitive
-Actively Defuse the Strangeness of the Clinical Situation
-Give Your Patient the Opening Word
-Gain Your Patient's Trust by Projecting Competence
How to approach threatening topics (sensitive/embarrassing
material) --- correct precise answer ----Normalization
-Symptom Expectation
-Symptom Exaggeration
-Reduction of Guilt
-Use Familiar Language When Asking about Behaviors
Normalization --- correct precise answer ---Introducing Q with some
type of normalizing statement
-two principal ways to do this:
,1. start the question by implying that the behavior is a normal or
understandable response to a mood or situation
• ex: Sometimes when people are very depressed, they think of hurting
themselves. Has this been true for you?
2. Begin by describing another patient (or patients) who has engaged
in the behavior, showing your patient that she is not alone
• ex: I've talked to several patients who've said that their depression
causes them to have strange experiences, like hearing voices or
thinking that strangers are laughing at them. Has that been happening
to you?
Symptom Expectation --- correct precise answer ---communicate that
a behavior is in some way normal or expected
-Phrase your Q's to imply that you already assume the patient has
engaged in some behavior and that you will not be offended by a
positive response
-high index of suspicion of some self-destructive activity
-Ex: patient is profoundly depressed and has expressed feelings of
hopelessness. You suspect suicidality, but you sense that the patient
may be too ashamed to admit it. Rather than gingerly asking "Have
you had any thoughts that you'd be better off dead?" you might decide
, to use symptom expectation. "What kinds of ways to hurt yourself
have you thought about?"
*reserve this technique for situations in which it seems appropriate
Symptom Exaggeration --- correct precise answer ---suggesting a
frequency of a problematic behavior that is higher than your
expectation, so that the patient feels that their actual, lower
frequency of the behavior will not be perceived by you as being "bad."
-helpful in clarifying the severity of symptoms
*reserve this technique for situations in which it seems appropriate
Reduction of guilt --- correct precise answer ---seeks to directly
reduce a patient's guilt about a specific behavior in order to discover
what they have been doing
-useful in obtaining a hx of domestic violence & other antisocial
behavior
Domestic Violence
-"Have you ever been in situations where fights occurred and you
were affected?"
Health Assessment (Qualified!!!) Latest
2025
Psychiatric interview --- correct precise answer ---the process by
which psychiatric assessment is conducted
-primary tasks
• building a therapeutic alliance between the PMHNP & client
• obtaining a database of psychiatric info about the client
• establishing a dx
• negotiating a tx plan
Therapeutic Alliance --- correct precise answer ---a feeling that you
should create over the course of the diagnostic interview, a sense of
rapport, trust, and warmth
-most important goal of the interview process
-the cooperative working relationship between the therapist and
client
• begins during the initial or opening phase of the interview
-fundamental component of successful therapy
,• Without trust, adherence to treatment recommendations may be
compromised
• interview may not elicit the information needed to formulate an
appropriate dx & plan of care without rapport & trust
Creating rapport: tips --- correct precise answer ----Be Yourself
-Be Warm, Courteous, and Emotionally Sensitive
-Actively Defuse the Strangeness of the Clinical Situation
-Give Your Patient the Opening Word
-Gain Your Patient's Trust by Projecting Competence
How to approach threatening topics (sensitive/embarrassing
material) --- correct precise answer ----Normalization
-Symptom Expectation
-Symptom Exaggeration
-Reduction of Guilt
-Use Familiar Language When Asking about Behaviors
Normalization --- correct precise answer ---Introducing Q with some
type of normalizing statement
-two principal ways to do this:
,1. start the question by implying that the behavior is a normal or
understandable response to a mood or situation
• ex: Sometimes when people are very depressed, they think of hurting
themselves. Has this been true for you?
2. Begin by describing another patient (or patients) who has engaged
in the behavior, showing your patient that she is not alone
• ex: I've talked to several patients who've said that their depression
causes them to have strange experiences, like hearing voices or
thinking that strangers are laughing at them. Has that been happening
to you?
Symptom Expectation --- correct precise answer ---communicate that
a behavior is in some way normal or expected
-Phrase your Q's to imply that you already assume the patient has
engaged in some behavior and that you will not be offended by a
positive response
-high index of suspicion of some self-destructive activity
-Ex: patient is profoundly depressed and has expressed feelings of
hopelessness. You suspect suicidality, but you sense that the patient
may be too ashamed to admit it. Rather than gingerly asking "Have
you had any thoughts that you'd be better off dead?" you might decide
, to use symptom expectation. "What kinds of ways to hurt yourself
have you thought about?"
*reserve this technique for situations in which it seems appropriate
Symptom Exaggeration --- correct precise answer ---suggesting a
frequency of a problematic behavior that is higher than your
expectation, so that the patient feels that their actual, lower
frequency of the behavior will not be perceived by you as being "bad."
-helpful in clarifying the severity of symptoms
*reserve this technique for situations in which it seems appropriate
Reduction of guilt --- correct precise answer ---seeks to directly
reduce a patient's guilt about a specific behavior in order to discover
what they have been doing
-useful in obtaining a hx of domestic violence & other antisocial
behavior
Domestic Violence
-"Have you ever been in situations where fights occurred and you
were affected?"
