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A woman with borderline personality disorder has been admitted to the inpatient unit because she has been engaging in wrist cutting. The client?s sister is visiting, and the sister asks the nurse to explain why her sister sometimes does this to herself. Which response by the nurse would be most appropriate?
- A. Sometimes the self-injurious behavior is undertaken to relieve stress.
- B. Self-injurious behavior often calms and sedates people with this diagnosis.
- C. Sometimes they do it to avoid the onslaught of delusional thinking.
- D. The self-mutilation often slows the mood swings your sister experiences.
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Self-injurious behavior in BPD, such as wrist cutting, is often a maladaptive coping mechanism to relieve intense emotional stress or distress (A). It does not typically calm or sedate (B), is unrelated to delusions (C), and does not directly address mood swings (D), which are more characteristic of bipolar disorder.
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A nurse is assessing a client with borderline personality disorder. Which question would be most appropriate to assess the client?s level of impulsivity?
- A. What things bother you and make you feel happy?
- B. Have you ever felt sorry after acting as you did on the spur of the moment?
- C. How do you view other people around you?
- D. Have you ever felt like you were separated from your body?
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Asking about regret after spontaneous actions (B) directly assesses impulsivity, a core BPD trait. Questions about emotions (A), perceptions of others (C), or dissociation (D) are less specific to impulsivity.
A nursing instructor is preparing a class discussion on personality disorders and characteristics. Which term would the instructor include to differentiate personality disorders from normal personality? Select all that apply.
- A. Inflexible
- B. Short term
- C. Pervasive
- D. Unstable over time
- E. Distressing
Correct Answer: A,C,E
Rationale: Personality disorders are characterized by inflexible (A), pervasive (C), and distressing (E) patterns of behavior that deviate from normal personality traits. They are not short-term (B) but enduring, and while unstable relationships or emotions may occur, ?unstable over time? (D) is not a defining feature of the disorder itself.
The nurse is assessing a client who is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Which client statement indicates the client is at risk for self-injurious behavior?
- A. I have felt so down lately. I don?t enjoy doing anything anymore.
- B. I do what I do because others tell me to do so.
- C. When I feel extremely anxious, it is like my mind goes somewhere else.
- D. It is almost as if as soon as I think of doing something, I immediately do it.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: The statement about the mind going somewhere else during extreme anxiety (C) suggests dissociation, a common precursor to self-injurious behavior in borderline personality disorder (BPD) as a way to cope with intense emotions. Feeling down (A) indicates depression, following others (B) suggests suggestibility, and impulsivity (D) is a risk but less directly linked to self-injury than dissociation.
As part of a client?s treatment plan for borderline personality disorder, the client is engaged in dialectical behavior therapy. As part of the therapy, the client is learning how to control and change behavior in response to events. The nurse identifies the client as learning which type of skills?
- A. Emotion regulation skills
- B. Mindfulness skills
- C. Distress tolerance skills
- D. Self-management skills
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for BPD emphasizes emotion regulation skills (A) to help clients manage intense emotions and modify behaviors in response to triggers. Mindfulness (B) focuses on awareness, distress tolerance (C) on enduring crises, and self-management (D) is not a DBT-specific term.
A client diagnosed with borderline personality disorder tells the nurse that she frequently spaces out. Which response by the nurse would be most appropriate?
- A. Do you feel stressed most of the time?
- B. Does this frighten you when it happens?
- C. What?s happening around you when this occurs?
- D. Do you feel as if you are out of your body?
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: The client?s description of ?spacing out? suggests dissociation, common in BPD. Asking if she feels out of her body (D) directly assesses the nature of this dissociative experience. Asking about stress (A), fear (B), or external events (C) is less specific to confirming dissociation.